NCDC confirms lassa fever in Benue

National Center for Disease Control (NCDC) on Friday confirmed five persons dead from the outbreak of Lassa fever in Benue State.

Programs Officer, Risk Communications Desk of NCDC, Hanatu Bello, at a news conference in Makurdi, said that 21 suspected cases of Lassa fever was received from the state out of which eight cases were confirmed while five infected persons have also died.

“Since the beginning of the year, there have been 21 suspected cases of Lassa fever in Benue State. Eight cases were confirmed after laboratory tests and five deaths have so far been recorded,” she said.

Bello further disclosed that the State University Teaching Hospital (BSUTH) is the only medical facility attending to Lassa fever patients at the moment.

She added that the Emergency Operation Center (EOC) had already been activated in the state, stressing that the Center was in Benue to respond to the Lassa fever outbreak as well as a strange illness in Okpokwu local government area of the state.