A nine-year-old girl has lost her life after her mother applied a pesticide, Sniper, on her hair to kill lice in Rivers state.
Dr Gloria Nwosu, a paediatrician at the Rivers State University Teaching Hospital, disclosed this to newsmen at a press conference on Thursday, September 3. She said the woman followed the advice of her hairdresser and put the pesticide on the hair of two of her daughters, aged nine and four, respectively.
Nwosu said after applying the harmful liquid, the nine-year-old girl convulsed for hours before she died and that the prompt effort of the doctors in the hospital helped save the life of the four-year-old.
“Their mother felt that the hairdresser would know what to do since it has to do with lice. We did everything we could to bring the child back to normal, but it was all abortive.
“She (the deceased) was very sick. The second child slumped in our presence and we immediately admitted her and gave her an antidote. So, the question now is how many of these children may have gone through this?
It affected her brain because she convulsed for over two hours. Now, there is something we do to check for oxygen saturation; it remained low. It never went back to normal. Then they can have something coming out from their mouth. This child kept pouring out saliva. It never went off until she passed on.
They also have high blood pressure. This child’s blood pressure was high. We saw all those symptoms on this child,” Nwosu said