- In what has been described as the worst outbreak since 2016, the Lassa fever disease has spread to 18 states and led to the death of 110 people
- A total of 1,121 cases have been reported since the disease broke out in 2018
- Lassa fever is contracted via contact with food or household items contaminated with rats’ urine or feaces; or when a person comes in contact with the bodily fluid of an infected individual
The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control disclosed on Tuesday, March 6, that Lassa fever has claimed 110 lives in the country, in what it described as one of the worst outbreaks since 2016, Vanguard reports.
As at last week, according to the World Health Organization, the virus had claimed the lives of 72 people, with 317 laboratory confirmed cases.
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NAIJ.com gathers that the cases have been reported in 18 states, with 16 health workers affected in six states.
The NCDC stated: “Since the onset of the 2018 outbreak, there have been 110 deaths: 78 in positive-confirmed cases, 8 in probable cases and 24 in negative cases.”
Out of a total of 1,121 reported cases, the NCDC disclosed that “353 are confirmed positive, 8 are probable, 723 are negative (not a case) and 37 are awaiting laboratory results.”
Speaking to newsmen, the minister of health, Prof Isaac Adewole, stated that the federal government would soon take delivery of vaccines for taming the virus.
He added: “We are doing everything possible to fight and address the outbreak of Lassa fever on all fronts.”
Lassa fever is contracted via contact with food or household items contaminated with rats’ urine or feaces.
It can also be spread when a person comes in direct contact with an infected person’s bodily fluid.
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Meanwhile, NAIJ.com previously reported that Professor Debo Adeyewa, vice chancellor of the Redeemer’s University, stated that the tertiary institution possesses the capacity to curb Lassa fever.
Adeyewa stated that through its research activities, the university could contain and eliminate the disease.
He, however, accused the federal government of insincerity as he said the government did not support the school’s World Bank-sponsored African Centre of Excellence for Genomics of Infectious Diseases (ACEGID).
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Source: Naija.ng