By Deborah Hassan
365Daily – Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) has disclosed that 80 persons have so far died from Lassa fever as at Thursday, December 16, 2021.
This was disclosed in its routine situation report on Lassa Fever outbreak in the country.
According to the report, 434 were reported from Edo (192), Ondo (150), Taraba (21), Ebonyi (17), Bauchi (15), Benue (8), Plateau (8) and Kaduna (7).
Others are Enugu State (5), Nasarawa (3), Kogi (3), Cross River (1), Imo (1), Anambra (1), Delta (1), and Abia (1).
It added: “The disease is endemic in Nigeria, like in several other countries in West Africa, and most cases, are seen during the dry season, often between November and May annually.
“Since January 2021, a total of 434 confirmed cases with 80 deaths (i.e., a case fatality rate of 18 per cent) have been reported in seventeen (17) States and sixty-three (63) Local Government Areas (LGAs) in Nigeria.”
Seven laboratories coordinated by the NCDC National Reference Laboratory (NRL) have the capacity to test for Lassa fever in Nigeria, the agency said, adding that it is participating in the largest-ever Lassa fever study supported by the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness and Innovations (CEPI) to provide an accurate assessment of the incidence of the disease in West Africa.
The NCDC explained that the study is geared towards the development of vaccine and therapeutics for Lassa fever.
The first lassa fever death in the new wave was a pregnant woman who was presented in a health facility in Nasarawa State and a medical doctor involved in the management of the patient that later sought medical care in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).