Nigeria: After the outbreak of Lassa fever in Nigeria, the death toll of the disease stood at 171, as per the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC). However, the government made efforts to reduce the number of infections across the country.
According to the latest Lassa fever situation report, there a total of 917 cases have been confirmed in Nigeria so far. However, a total of 6,660 suspected cases have been recorded since the beginning of the year and the outbreak of the fever. In the week from September 5 to 111 alone, around eight cases of Lassa fever have been confirmed, and one death was reported as per government officials.
25 states of Nigeria have reported t least one confirmed case across 102 out of the 774 local government areas in the most populous African country so far.
With the death toll rising to 171, the NCDC said the case fatality rate was 18.6 percent, lower than that for the same period last year, which was 23.3 per cent.
The disease control centre said the predominant age group affected is 21-30 years, with the male-to-female ratio for confirmed cases being 1:0.8.
As per the World Health Organization, Lessa fever is known as an acute viral hemorrhagic illness which is caused by the Lassa virus. It is a member of the arenavirus family of viruses. People usually turned out infected with the Lassa virus as they got exposed to food or any household items that get contaminated with urine or feces of infected Mastomys rates. The disease is also known as endemic to the rodent population in various parts of West Africa.
In various other cases, Lassar fever also resembles symptoms caused by malaria, appearing between one and three weeks after the person gets exposed to the virus. In some mild cases, the diseases cause fever, fatigue, weakness and headache.
