Following the outbreak of Lassa Fever in River State, over 60 people are currently being placed under surveillance in the state.
The casualty figures include a nursing mother and her two-week-old baby who were said to have died on December 30, last year, and January 1, from the contagious disease.
Health Commissioner Dr. Theophilous Adangbe told reporters on Thursday in Port Harcourt, the state capital, that 12 medical officers, who attended to the victims at a public health centre have been placed under observation.
In his words: “We have placed the health personnel, who attended to the woman and her baby, who died last week, under surveillance. We have also placed some secondary contacts – those who had contacts with the deceased during the naming ceremony of the baby, who died two days after the death of the mother – under surveillance.
“Over 12 of the workers at the primary health care centre, who managed and attended to the mother and the baby, have been placed under surveillance. The husband of the deceased woman has been asked to draw up a list of those who attended the naming ceremony of the baby and had contact with the mother and child.
“The list from the husband of the deceased woman is also being generated and that will be over 50. We already have some of them under observation. We are searching for all those who have had secondary contacts with the health personnel, including family members and friends who had primary and secondary contacts with the victims.”
Agamgbe said the primary health centre, where the victims were admitted, had been decontaminated, adding: “The victims have already been buried, in keeping with the principles of managing the bodies of those who died from Lassa fever and other haemorrhage diseases.
“For now, we do not have any symptomatic case. What we are doing is to check the temperatures of those currently under observation. Any of them who develops the symptoms of Lassa fever will be immediately quarantined.”
-Emmanuel Ikechukwu
