From: Emmanuel Adeyemi, Lokoja
The first victim to have died of the dreaded Lassa fever in Kogi State, Miss Aisha Jimoh, was an orphan, says a sister of the deceased who simply identified herself as Rekiya .
The 18-year-old Aisha reportedly died in the early hours of Monday at the Irua General Hospital in Edo state where she was rushed to.
The sister of the deceased while speaking with our correspondent Tuesday morning at their Gadumo residence in the outskirt of Lokoja, said the girl might have contracted the disease at a farm settlement in Owo, Ondo state where she had just arrived.
According to her, since when the girl lost her parents few years ago, she had been solely responsible for her own upkeep and her education, a situation she said made her to go and embark on some menial holiday job in one of the farm settlements in Owo.
” When she returned from Owo she complained of having malaria, but we initially thought it was as a result of stress she encountered as a farm hand.
” Ironically, all the money she struggled to gather at the farm to enable her pay for her school fees was expended on the sickness which later claimed her life” she lamented.
Aisha, was a student of Muslim Community secondary, lokoja before her death .
Meanwhile, as at the time of filing in this story tuesday morning, the 14 years old younger sister of the deceased is said to be seriously down now with fever.
Earlier, one of the brothers of the brothers of the deceased said on Sunday that Aisha’s sickness started about five days ago.
He said that the lady was taken to the Federal Medical Centre, Lokoja from where she was transferred to Irua General Hospital in Edo.
Meanwhile, there is currently panic in Gadumo community over fear of the spread of the deadly disease, but the state commissioner of Health, Dr Saka Adu said there was no need for panic as government was doing its best to curtail the spread of the disease.