Lassa Fever: 83 Deaths Recorded In 2019 -NCDC

The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) says 83 deaths, 381 confirmed cases and 1,279 suspected cases of Lassa fever have been recorded so far in 2019.

The Senior Technical Adviser to the NCDC, Chief Executive Officer, Dr Kola Jinadu, disclosed the report at a health journalism master class organised by Nigeria Health Watch, a non-governmental organisation, in Jos on Tuesday.

Jinadu also added that the centre has recorded 12 probable cases, cutting across 21 states of the country.

“We so far have 21 states with active Lassa fever cases with fatality ratio of 21.8 per cent.

“In the efforts to treat the infected persons and check the spread of the disease, 15 healthcare workers were infected with the disease during the period under review,’’ he said.

The Centre in its weekly situation update for the reporting week (March 4 to 10) had hinted that 52 new confirmed cases were reported from eight states, Edo, Ondo, Ebonyi, Bauchi, Nasarawa, Plateau, Taraba and Delta.

Jinadu further said there has been a steady decline in the number of confirmed cases in the disease for this year. This, he compared, to the 2018 outbreak where Nigeria recorded its highest number of disease burden in the last 50 years.

So far, Edo State has been topping the chart of the highest burden of the disease with 174 confirmed cases, followed by Ondo, with 133 confirmed cases, Ebonyi, with 39 confirmed cases and Bauchi, 32.

21 states have reported at least one confirmed case across 73 Local Government areas since the beginning of the outbreak. These states are Edo, Ondo, Bauchi, Nasarawa, Ebonyi, Plateau, Taraba, FCT, Adamawa, Gombe, Kaduna, Kwara, Benue, Rivers, Kogi, Enugu, Imo, Delta, Oyo, Kebbi and Cross River States.

Meanwhile, the NCDC said a multi-sectorial health national rapid response team (NCDC, NFELTP, Federal Ministry of Agricultural and Federal Ministry of Environment) is still working in the high burden states.