" ITREALMS: Lassa Fever: One person confirmed dead in Abuja, raises figure to 43

Wednesday, January 13, 2016

Lassa Fever: One person confirmed dead in Abuja, raises figure to 43



One person has been confirmed dead in Abuja over the cause of Lassa Fever, bringing the death on Lassa Fever to 43, reports ITRealms.

The patient who died at the National Hospital, Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), according to the Minister of Health, Prof. Isaac Folorunso Adewole who also confirmed the death, saying the victim was in a private hospital for over a week before his transfer to the National Hospital Abuja.

ITRealms recalls that the federal government had said over 41 lives from the 93 reported cases in some 10 states of the federation.

Earlier on Tuesday, Prof Adewole, at a joint ministerial news conference on the update of the outbreak of the disease, said there were no new confirmed cases or deaths in the last 48 hours.

“In the last 48 hours, the government raised a four-man expert committee, chaired by Professor Michael Asuzu, to visit Kano, Niger and Bauchi, the three most endemic states. The committee will embark on a fact finding mission, assess the current situation, document response experiences, identify gaps and proffer recommendations on how to prevent future occurrences,” Adewole said.

Further, the minister maintained that the task of the committee was not to apportion blame but rather to document lessons learnt for better planning of an affective responsive; stressing that long term plan is to establish an inter-ministerial committee to deliver a final blow on Lassa fever and other related diseases.

This committee, he said, comprised of the ministers of Education, Agriculture and Natural Resources, Environment, Information and Culture as well as Health, advising communities to improve on their hygiene, particularly on food and food protection practices.

In addition, he enjoined the public to shun contact with rodents as well as food contaminated with rat’s secretions and excretions. Even as “Avoid drying food in the open and along roadsides. It is also important to cover all foods to prevent rodent contamination.”

The affected states, he said, include Bauchi, Nasarawa, Niger, Taraba, Kano, Rivers, Edo, Plateau, Gombe and Oyo, just as he assured that government and other stakeholders are working tirelessly to address the outbreak and bring it to timely end.

He said the ministry had ordered for the immediate release of adequate quantities of “ribavirin”, the specific antiviral drug for Lassa fever, to the affected states for prompt treatment of cases.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) further noted that the first case of the current outbreak was reported from Bauchi in November 2015.


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