Lassa fever kills 233 Nigerians in 10 months

The Minister of States for Health, Olorunnimbe Mamora, says the nation has so far recorded 233 deaths of Lassa fever this year.

The minister said this in Abuja on Thursday at the briefing of the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19.

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He said this was with a case fatality rate (CFR) of 20.6 percent, slightly lower than the CFR for the same period in 2019 (21.0 percent).

Mamora said while the government strived to contain the spread of COVID-10, it continued to keep eyes on other diseases threatening Nigerians’ health.

He said so far this year, Nigeria had recorded 1,131 confirmed cases in 27 states.

“However, the number of new confirmed cases of Lassa has increased from three in the last week to 11 cases this week,” the minister said.

He added: “Although nearly three-quarters of the confirmed cases are in Ondo state, Lassa fever can affect anyone anywhere. We therefore advise all to be vigilant and especially as we approach the season when we usually record increased incidence.”

Mamora said the Federal Government was investigating the incidence of unexplained deaths in Delta and Enugu States.

He said government’s team of experts had been dispatched there to support the states’ investigation.

He said: “In Delta State, 23 cases have been reported with 17 deaths  while in Enugu State, 51 deaths have been reported. In both states, most of the affected cases are males aged between one to 55 years.

“Most reported cases presented with fever, headache, fatigue, and weakness, jaundice, abdominal pain, vomiting (with or without blood), nose bleeding, blood in stools/urine, convulsions and unconsciousness.

“As at the 6th of November, three samples from Delta and one sample from Enugu have been confirmed positive for yellow fever. We shall provide further updates at subsequent briefing,” the minister said.