Prices Of Hand Sanitisers, Bitter kola Rise In Lagos

Hand sanitisers are meant to be affordable for people to buy. Following the recent Ebola outbreak in Nigeria, survey was carried out by Nigerian Tribune in Lagos to check prices of hand sanitisers, bitter kola and general disinfectants used as means to prevent the deadly Ebola virus. Survey revealed that there are either scarcity of disinfectants, especially hand sanitisers or shops who still stocked different brands of hand sanitisers, hiked their prices.

With unconfirmed speculations that that bitter kola is a cure for Ebola, the price of the product had also gone up, as a piece of bitter kola, which used to sell for N20, now goes for N50.


Lamenting the scarcity of the product, Mr Ebenezer Adesanmi, said that he had visited more than six shops to buy hand sanitiser but could not find any.

Also speaking, Mrs Nkem Okolo, who owns a shop where she sells cosmetics in Ojota, confirmed the rush by Lagos residents to buy hand sanitisers.
 “I bought over 10 cartons of hand sanitisers last week and I have sold all of them. A man came to my shop and bought N10,000 worth of hand sanitisers.
The situation at hand really calls for caution and I am encouraging people to be more hygenic,” she said.

 Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN Chief Medical Correspondent responding to questions on his blog as whether hand sanitizers are effective against bacterias and viruses, said it does not kill bacterias or viruses but makes your hand inhospitable to them.

 "In essence, it makes your hands very inhospitable to viruses. You put it on your hands and viruses simply don't want to cling to it. So it does reduce the amount of a virus that can cling to your hand but it does not kill it" Gupta says. Gupta also says at the end of the day, basic principles apply to avoid getting a virus.

"Avoid touching your mouth, eyes and nose as much as possible. If you cough or sneeze, cover your mouth and nose with a tissue or your sleeve. If you're sick, stay home and avoid close contact with others. Some viruses can live for hours on surfaces such as ATMs, doorknobs, even money".