Around 155 people have lost their lives in Nigeria because of the Lassa fever in 2022 till now, the Nigeria Center for Disease Control (NCDC) revealed on Sunday, 19 June.
The death toll has come amid the strict actions being taken by the Nigerian administration to prevent the cases of Lassa fever in the nation.
The NCDC said that they had recorded 782 confirmed cases, out of which 155 died, with 4939 suspected cases since the start of 2022.
The NCDC further stated that the death rate due to this deadly virus had touched 19.8%. The public health agency also said that the fatality rate had seen a decline as 20.2% were reported for the same time in 2021.
The Nigerian states of Ondo, Bauchi and Edo reported 68% of all confirmed patients, as per reports. It added that they persist in working with state public health terms to reduce the death rate of Lassa fever to a single digit.
Moreover, the NCDC has been distributing medical products to states as well as treatment centres to stop the spread of the disease.
As per the WHO (World Health Organisation), Lassa fever is a severe viral haemorrhagic illness driven by Lassa fever. People usually get infected with the Lassa through exposure to food or items that have been infected with “urine or faeces of infected Mastomys rats.”
As per WHO, this virus is endemic in Ghana, Benin, Mali, Togo, Sierra Leone, Guinea, Liberia and Nigeria. The cases of the virus have also been found in other West African countries as well.
As per the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), signs of this virus may appear after one to three weeks after the patient comes in contact with the virus. Mild symptoms of Lassa fever include slight fever, weakness, general malaise and headache.
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