Lassa Fever - 137 confirmed cases, 80 deaths since outbreak in December 2015

Abdulsalami Nasidi, Director General of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) in a recent interview stated that since the break out of Lassa fever in December 2015, 137 cases and 80 deaths have been recorded.

Nasidi  told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja that efforts have been intensified to tackle virus in the country.

“Lassa fever broke out in December 2015 but became worst in February; the total suspected case was 266 and 138 deaths in the whole country.

“Laboratory wise the centre recorded 137 cases and 80 deaths,’’ he said.

Nasidi added that the centre has not received any new case in the past 10 days.

“NCDC has not received any new case of Lassa fever in the past 10 days and the one we are suspecting has not been fully confirmed.

"This means that the outbreak has subsided but it can rise again if we do not take precautions.

"Our challenge is the high rate of deaths which is around 60 per cent of those who fall sick due to the disease.
“We need to do more to stop the spread and reduce the number of deaths,” Nasidi said.

Nasidi noted the case of 13 persons from one family being infected with the virus in Bauchi. He said 10 members of the family survived while three died.

He added that the Centre is focused on fighting all haemorrhagic fevers, including ebola, zika and yellow fever.

“We are working very actively on all the haemorrhagic fevers not just Lassa fever.

“We are still monitoring and checking what is happening on Ebola; we are also working actively on flues generally.

“I just returned from Ibadan where we assembled all the NCDC epidemiologists, disease surveillance and education officers and some directors from all over the federation to make them know that time is against us.

“Through the meeting, preparation for the fight against Zika virus and endemic flues has begun,’’ he added.