Lassa fever: 103 confirmed deaths so far from 16 states, says NCDC

Moses Emorinken, Abuja

The latest report by the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), has revealed that till date, 103 people have died since the outbreak of the deadly Lassa fever, in December 30, 2019.

These morbid statistics are from 16 states of the country, namely: Ondo, Edo, Ebonyi, Kano, Kogi, Kaduna, Taraba, Plateau, Bauchi, Enugu, Abia, Benue, Borno, Gombe, Sokoto and Katsina.

The report which was released yesterday in Abuja, further revealed that Edo state has the highest burden of confirmed cases of Lassa fever at 35 percent, followed by Ondo at 32 percent, and Ebonyi at 6 percent. In total for this year, 26 states have recorded at least one confirmed case across 101 Local Government Areas.

“Cumulatively from week 1 to week 07, 2020, 103 deaths have been reported with a case fatality rate (CFR) of 17.6 percent which is lower than the CFR for the same period in 2019 (21.1 percent).

“The predominant age group affected is 21-30 years (range: <1 to 78 years, median age: 33 years). The male to female ratio for confirmed cases is 1:1.2. The number of suspected cases has significantly increased compared to that reported for the same period in 2019,” the report said.

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The report showed that two new health care workers were affected in Bauchi and Katsina states in reporting week 07.

Concerning the strategies and interventions to curb its spread, the NCDC said it has activated National Emergency Operations Centre (EOC) to coordinate response activities across states. Of the states with confirmed cases, eight of them have activated state level EOCs.

“National Rapid Response Teams have been deployed from NCDC to support response activities in nine states. State Public Health Emergency Operations Centre have been activated in affected states.

“The five molecular laboratories for Lassa fever testing in the NCDC network are working at full capacity to ensure that all samples are tested and results provided within the shortest turnaround time,” the NCDC said.

The disease control centre said it is working to support states in Nigeria to identify a treatment centres in every state, while supporting existing ones with care, treatment and IPC commodities. Also, risk communications and community engagement activities have been scaled up across states using television, radio, print, social media and other strategies.