A total of Forty people have so far died in Nigeria in a suspected outbreak of Lassa fever in 10 states across the country, Health Minister Isaac Adewole said Friday.
“The total number (of suspected cases) reported is 86 and 40 deaths, with a mortality rate of 43.2 percent,” Adewole told a news conference in the capital, Abuja.
The minister said that so far, laboratory tests have confirmed that 22 of the 86
suspected cases were Lassa fever and results were expected on the remainder.
Seven of the affected states are in the north — Bauchi, Nasarawa, Niger, Taraba, Kano, Plateau and Gombe
According to the WHO, Lassa fever is an acute haemorrhagic illness which belongs to the arenarvirus family of viruses, which also includes the Ebola-like Marburg virus.
People with Lassa fever do not display symptoms in 80 percent of cases but it can cause serious symptoms and death in the remainder.
The virus, which is endemic in rodents in west Africa, is transmitted to humans by contact with food or household items contaminated with the animals’ faeces and urine.
Person-to-person contact is also possible through bodily fluids, particularly in hospitals when adequate infection control measures are not taken.
-Emmanuel Ikechukwu
