Nine people have reportedly died after contracting Lassa fever in Benue State, News About Nigeria reports.
This was disclosed to newsmen by the state epidemiologist, Dr. Sam Ngishe, on Thursday.
He noted that the nine deaths have spread over a period of two months, adding that 46 people, including health workers and internally displaced persons, have been hit by the dreaded disease across the state.
This is coming after the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (NCDC) said it has recorded 2,621 suspected Lassa fever cases and 84 deaths, with a case fatality rate of 18.6 percent.
Dr. Ngishe stated that the disease had spread to seven of the 23 local government areas of the state, identifying the affected council areas to include; Obi, Okpokwu, Gwer West, Makurdi, Guma, Gwer East, and Ukum.
“Nine deaths in confirmed cases, and they have been buried in accordance with safe burial protocols
across the various areas of the state where they hail from.
“We are hoping to reduce the numbers of the deaths such that the key fatality rate for the state is less than 10 percent which is what the nation expects from all the states. For now, what we have is above that figure.” He stated.
He further disclosed that four out of the nine cases were found among the internally displaced persons at the Ortese IDP camp in Guma LGA of the state.
Dr. Sam Ngishe, however, noted that efforts were being put in place to reduce its occurrence, including, sustenance response through the intervention of the Federal Government through the World Bank and Nigeria Centre for Disease Control.
“Also, we have spoken loudly to enhance our surveillance efforts, risk communication (creating social behaviour change) in the community, and we have also spoken about the laboratory component of the response and coordination,” he added.
