Three more people have died from
drinking contaminated beer, bringing the number of fatalities to 72, as the
number hospitalized fell by more than 150, health authorities in Mozambique said on
Tuesday.
About 35 victims are now
hospitalized, down from 196, according Paula Bernardo, director of health,
women and social welfare in the northeastern Tete province. At least seven
people are still in critical condition in hospitals in the Chitima district,
Bernardo told Radio Mozambique.
www.oodgwublog.com reports that Dozens of
people fell ill in Chitima and in the neighboring Songo district after drinking
traditional beer, known as Pombe, at a funeral over the weekend. The beer,
brewed from millet or corn flour, is believed to have been poisoned with
crocodile bile, according to district health officials.
Police investigating the incident
said the barrel in which the beer was originally brewed has since disappeared,
hampering the investigation.
Police have no leads, police
spokesman Zeferino Sande told Radio Mozambique. Medical and law enforcement
reinforcements were sent to the region to assist with the disaster.
Blood and traditional beer
samples were sent to the capital Maputo to be tested, said provincial health
director Carle Mosse.
District health officials said
Sunday that it was likely crocodile bile that poisoned the beer, a common
practice in the region. The mother of the child whose funeral people attended,
had brewed the beer and died.
One expert questioned the claim
that crocodile bile is poisonous.
Johan Marais, a South African who
has farmed crocodile for eight years, said he has tested many parts of the
animal for consuming. He said that the animal's bile, a greenish-brown liquid
produced in the liver and stored in the gall bladder, was found not to be
toxic.
However, some traditions demand
that when a crocodile is killed, that the reptile's bile be removed and buried
in front of witnesses to ensure that it does not fall into the wrong hands, and
used as poison.
Medical tests are yet to confirm
the exact source of contamination.
Mozambique's government on Sunday
declared three days of mourning, from Monday to Wednesday.
Death Toll Rises to 72 From Contaminated Beer in Mozambique
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Thursday, January 15, 2015
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