The National Centre for Disease Control has said a total of 1,447 suspected cases of Lassa fever have been reported in 33 states, including the Federal Capital Territory, since the outbreak of the disease this year 2019.
The centre also said since the outbreak, there had been 93 deaths, with case fatality ratio in the confirmed cases put at 22.1 per cent.
The latest report of the agency on the spread of the disease showed that 20 states, together with the FCT, had recorded at least one confirmed case across 66 local government areas.
According to the report, the affected states are Edo, Ondo, Bauchi, Nasarawa, Ebonyi, Plateau, Taraba, Adamawa, Gombe, Kaduna and Kwara.
Others are Benue, Rivers, Kogi, Enugu, Imo, Delta, Oyo, Kebbi and Cross River states with the FCT.
The Incident Manager, National Emergency Operation Centre, Ms Chioma Dan-Nwafor, told SUNDAY PUNCH on Friday that the Federal Government in its effort to curb the disease had established treatment centres in the states where the disease was prevalent across the country.
She said many of the affected cases were on 21-day surveillance.
“We have treatment centres across the country and all cases are referred to the centres for management. The health workers at the centres are supported with personal protective equipment. We also deplore rapid response to states with high record of cases such as Edo, Ondo, Ebonyi, Bauchi and Plateau states,” Dan-Nwafor stated while explaining the strategies being adopted to curb the spread of the disease.
“It is a multi-sectoral approach; we have the Ministry of the Environment and the Ministry of Agriculture being part of the team. The two ministries are important in terms of control measure and environmental sanitation. They strengthen the teams’ activities down to the grass roots.
“We have given case management guidelines to all treatment centres. We follow confirmed cases for 21 days and isolate them if necessary.”
Dan-Nwafor said the government had raised sensitisation efforts in various communities with the advice that any protracted malaria case should be treated with suspicion.
Credit: punchng.com
