Lassa Fever Only Eradicated With Vaccine, Not Tools – NCDC

The Chief Executive Officer (CEO), National Co-ordinator of National Centre for Disease Control, NCDC, Dr. Chikwe Ihekweazu, has disclosed that Lassa fever cannot be totally removed from Nigeria with the available tools but with a vaccine that is difficult to find.

“Lassa is in our environment. There is no magic bullet. Lassa is endemic in Nigeria. As long as there is no vaccine and rats live with us, we will continue to have cases. We are working hard at getting a vaccine and containing the virus. We will continue with public health education and behaviour change.

“It can but when we have a vaccine, not with the tools we have at the moment.”

Speaking with The Guardian, Ihekweazu spoke on the new case of Lassa fever in Edo and Ondo states which was discovered despite all efforts to fight against it by the federal government.

The report showed that the virus has been contained from 21 states to just two states being Edo and Ondo.

It further explained that 17 states have left the active phase of the virus while Edo, Ondo, Plateau and Taraba remain active.

“Six new confirmed cases were reported from Edo (five) and Ondo (one), with three new deaths from Edo (two) and Ondo (one) states,” the report stated.

“From January 1 to July 22, 2018, a total of 2,238 suspected cases have been reported from 21 states. Of these, 467 were confirmed positive, 10 are probable, 1761 negative (not a case). Since the onset of the 2018 outbreak, there have been 120 deaths in confirmed cases and 10 in probable cases. Case fatality rate in confirmed cases is 25.7 per cent.

“Twenty-one states have recorded at least one confirmed case across 71 local councils (Edo, Ondo, Bauchi, Nasarawa, Ebonyi, Anambra, Benue, Kogi, Imo, Plateau, Lagos, Taraba, Delta, Osun, Rivers, FCT, Gombe, Ekiti, Kaduna, Abia and Adamawa).”