Lassa Fever: 103 deaths recorded so far in 26 states, says FG

Fred Ezeh, Abuja

Federal Government, on Friday, disclosed that so far, Lassa fever has claimed no fewer than 103 lives in 26 states, with Edo State having the highest casualty figure.

Edo State with 35 percent of the confirmed cases was followed closely by Ondo State with 32 percent, and Ebonyi State with six percent of confirmed cases, while the Case Fatality Rate (CFR) is 17.6 percent.

Minister of State for Health, Senator Olurnimbe Mamora, who addressed journalists in Abuja, on Friday, maintained that Nigeria has five well equipped laboratories with capacity to test for Lassa fever within 24 hours’ turnaround time, and government had continued to encourage people to maintain good environmental and personal hygiene.

He said: “We are aware of the case of unidentified killer disease in Benue. So far, what we have established is that it’s more likely to be due to poisoning as a result of the harmful practice of pouring gamalin into a body of water with the view to killing fish, and people now eat the same fish.

“There is also the issue of the presence of high gathering of lead; so lead poisoning is also suspected as one of the factors in that outbreak in Benue. However, samples have been taken and are undergoing analysis through NAFDAC and other labs”.

He advised people to always boil their water before drinking, and should stop fetching water from places that have been established to be potential sources of the poisoning.

Meanwhile, the minister confirmed that N386m was recently released by the Federal Government to strengthen the importation of the deadly COVID-19 (coronavirus).

He said that the bulk of the money, N315 million, was released to Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) while N71m was released to the Port Health Services division of Federal Ministry of Health for improved surveillance at points of entry, especially the airports.