Lassa fever claims student in Plateau

A fresh outbreak of Lassa fever has claimed a student of the Federal Government Girls’ College Langtang in the southern senatorial district of Plateau State, the state Commissioner for Health, Dr. Kunden Deyin, said.

Daily Trust on Sunday gathered that four students from the school had been admitted in the school clinic with a fever shortly before the school closed for an extended midterm break. The students were said to have been referred to the Jos University Teaching Hospital (JUTH), when the fever persisted, following which their samples were taken for tests. 

Deyin yesterday told our correspondent on phone that “three out of the four samples tested positive to Lassa fever while the other was negative. Unfortunately, one out of the three that tested positive to the disease has died while the others are responding to treatment.”

The commissioner said other students of the school were due to resume from the mid-term break today, but that the state Ministry of Health had advised the school authority to postpone the resumption. 

“We have put modalities in place to curtail the spread of the disease and the school authorities are right now working with the state Ministry of Health and staff of JUTH to contain this outbreak,” he said.