I was told to warn all Nigerians especially wrt the "Garri Joke" being spread around recently. The name of the rat that harbours the virus that causes lassa fever is called multimammate rat( bcos it has many nipples like all these local street dogs after delivery). While the botanical name is mastomys natalensis.
There is also an upsurge of the disease everywhere. So we should all practice hand washing hygiene. Also all apple lovers should wash them with salt and warm water before refrigerating them to eat. Our wives should avoid testing of dry garri by chewing them for starch in the market. All garri soakers should let go for now.
The problem is that most of our garri sellers in the market buy their garri from bush markets. These garri are often fried half dry and are subsequently dried on polythene sheets on the tarred roads or compounds in the villages. These rat dive in at will, to feed their hungry bellies and in the process defecate and urinate on the garri, which dry up with it. If used for Eba, the virus may die bcos of the hot water used. But if soaked, the virus is directly ushered in. Please no one should joke with this precaution, except you process your cassava yourself. Pass this around... You can save a generation with this. Thanks and God bless.
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