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• 5 states account for 91% of cases
From Fred Ezeh, Abuja
The Nigerian Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), has disclosed that Lassa fever has claimed 70 lives since the beginning of 2026.
It stated that five states namely: Edo, Ondo, Taraba, Bauchi and Ebonyi states, accounted for 91 per cent of the Lassa fever cases recorded so far across the country, with ten LGAs in the states recording 68 per cent of cases.
Director General of NCDC, Dr. Jide Idris, told journalists at a press conference in Abuja, on Friday, that between the beginning of the year and February 15, the country had recorded 1, 469 suspected Lassa fever cases, 318 confirmed cases, and 70 deaths indicating 22.0 per cent Case Fatality Ratio (CFR).
He said that NCDC had taken several measures to contain the challenge in partnership with the state governments. “Sadly, some state governments are not helping our efforts to tackle the Lassa fever challenge,” he lamented.
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He registered the concerns of the NCDC on the observed sharp increase in healthcare worker infection, attributing it to poor Infection Prevention and Control (IPC) in hospitals in the high-burden locations, low index of suspicion where healthcare workers do not suspect Lassa fever when patients present to them, and even when healthcare workers get exposed and get sick, they don’t go for treatment early, usually due to fear of stigma.
Dr. Idris also noted non-utilisation of NCDC-donated dialysis machine in some-treatment centres to manage complicated cases. “Sadly, we also observed that some facilities are charging high fees, and some are not utilising the machines and dialysis at all. These are very important in the management of Lassa fever patients.
“State-level resource limitations are also hindering the consistent availability of essential Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) required for staff safety.
Also, data feedback and reporting mechanisms at both the state and facility levels are currently functioning below the expected standard; even as we observed deficiency in state and facility-level commitment toward maintaining IPC programmes, particularly within endemic regions.”
