In its latest report on Lassa fever outbreak in the country, the National Center for Disease Control stated that 15 new cases of the disease have been recorded between 18th and 24th of March this year. The states affected include Edo, Ondo, Bauchi, Plateau, Ebonyi, and Taraba.
Sadly, five victims have lost their lives in three of these states.
That has now taken the death toll to 119 in the country while reported cases have reached a total of 1,924 this year alone.
NCDC explained that two victims died Edo, another two in Ondo, while the fifth dead victim resided in Bauchi. All the deaths are said to have occurred in the space of six days.
The report reads, “From January 1 to March 24, 2019, a total of 1,924 suspected cases have been reported from 21 states. Of these, 510 were confirmed positive, 15 probable and 1,511 negative (not a case). Since the onset of the 2019 outbreak, there have been 119 deaths in confirmed cases. Case fatality ratio in confirmed cases is 22.9 percent.
“Edo, Ondo, Bauchi, Nasarawa, Ebonyi, Plateau, Taraba, Adamawa, Gombe, Kaduna, Kwara, Benue, Rivers, Kogi, Enugu, Imo, Delta, Oyo, Kebbi, Cross River states, and the Federal Capital Territory have recorded at least one confirmed case across 74 local government areas.
“No new health care worker was affected in the reporting week. A total of 16 health care workers have been infected since the onset of the outbreak in seven states. The states are Edo, Ondo, Ebonyi, Enugu, Rivers, Bauchi and Benue with two deaths in Enugu and Edo states.”
The institution further mentioned that a total of 32 patients are currently under treatment at different care centers in the country.
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