Lassa Fever: Nigeria records 57 new cases, 12 deaths

Nigeria has recorded 57 new cases and 12 deaths from Lassa fever outbreak across eight states in one week, spanning 20 to 26 January.

The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (NCDC) revealed this in its latest situation.

According to the report, the states affected were Ondo, Taraba, Edo, Bauchi, Ebonyi, Kogi, Nasarawa and Gombe.

The centre stated that 75 per cent of all confirmed cases were reported from Ondo, Edo, and Bauchi, while 25 per cent were reported from seven states.

Of the 75 per cent of all the confirmed cases, Ondo recorded 37 per cent, Edo 21 per cent and Bauchi 17 per cent.

More details

Cumulatively, Nigeria has recorded 290 confirmed cases of Lassa fever with 53 deaths in four weeks.

The number of deaths resulted in a case fatality rate (CFR) of 18.3 per cent which is lower than the CFR for the same period in 2024 which is 18.6 per cent.

While no health worker was affected in the reporting week, the NCDC stated that 10 states have recorded at least one confirmed case of Lassa fever across 54 local government areas between week one to four.

It said the predominant age group affected is 21-30 years.

NCDC noted that the National Lassa fever Multi-partner, Multi-sectoral Incident Management System has been activated to coordinate the response activities at all levels.

The centre also said it has deployed National Rapid Response Teams to support onsite control and management efforts using a One Health approach.

Challenges

NCDC, in the report, highlighted some of its challenges in the fight against Lassa fever.

The challenges include the late presentation of cases leading to an increase in CFR, and poor health-seeking behaviour due to the high cost of treatment and clinical management of Lassa fever.

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Others are poor environmental sanitation conditions observed in high-burden communities, and poor awareness observed in high-burden communities

Lassa fever

Lassa fever is an acute viral hemorrhagic (excessive bleeding) illness that is transmitted to humans through contact with food or household items contaminated by infected rodents or persons.

Its symptoms include fever, headache, sore throat, general body weakness, cough, nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea, muscle pains, chest pain, and in severe cases, unexplainable bleeding from ears, eyes, nose, mouth, and other body openings.