Lassa Fever Will Be Eradicated By April -FG

The Minister of Health, Prof. Isaac Adewole, who said this during an interview with newsmen in Abuja, added that the family that hosted the man who died of the disease and the hospital he first visited in Kubwa, Abuja, has been placed under surveillance.

The minister said, “We want to assure Nigerians that Lassa fever will soon become a thing of the past. It will become history in Nigeria. Ordinarily, Lassa fever will be eradicated from Nigeria in April. But if we do nothing, it will come back by August. So, we will make sure that we work all-year round to make sure that there is no resurgence in August.

“Our target is to eradicate it in April. Even if we have one or two cases, we will treat them early because all our antennae will be out to treat any case,” he stated.

The minister added that “not just the families that the patient visited in Kubwa but also those who treated him (have been placed under surveillance). We are working on that, we don’t want to frighten anybody. But I can assure you that our officials are all over the place to make sure that we place them under surveillance. It is all in their interest, not that we want to frighten them.”