Lassa Fever Kills Seven More, Infects 14 In Abuja, Five States

Lassa fever has killed seven more people and infected 14 in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) and five states. This is according to latest figures on Lassa fever from the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) published yesterday.  

The NCDC named Ondo, Edo, Delta, Plateau and Bauchi as the affected states alongside FCT.  

The centre noted that from January 1 to December 23, 2018, a total of 3,441 suspected cases were reported, of which 611 were positive, 19 probable and 2,811 negative.Since the onset of the 2018 outbreak, there have been 166 deaths in confirmed cases and 19 in probable cases, while Case Fatality Rate (CFR) in confirmed cases is 27.2 per cent, the report added.  

According to the NCDC, 23 states have recorded at least one confirmed case, while 11 states are in active phase of the outbreak.A total of 9,557 contacts have been identified from 23 states, 588 (6.2 per cent) of which are being followed up, 8,839 (92.3 per cent) have completed 21 days follow-up while 15 (0.2 per cent) were lost to follow-up, NCDC stated, disclosing that 116 (1.3 per cent) symptomatic contacts had been identified, of which 37 (0.5 per cent) tested positive from Edo, Ondo, Ebonyi, Kogi, Bauchi and Adamawa states.  

The centre, however, noted that in the reporting week, no new healthcare worker was affected, even as 45 were affected in seven states since the onset of the outbreak. Ebonyi recorded 16, Edo 15, Ondo eight, Kogi two, one each in Nasarawa, Taraba, Kogi and Abia, with five deaths in Ebonyi, two in Ondo and one each in Kogi and Edo. The figures showed that 45 per cent of all confirmed cases are from Edo, 25 per cent from Ondo and 12 per cent Ebonyi; while eight patients are being managed.

By Chukwuma Muanya