LASSA FEVER: Death toll hits 90 as 36 people die within a week

The Nigerian Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) has confirmed the death of 90 persons from Lassa fever.

The situation report from NCDC for week eight, released on Friday, disclosed that from January 1 to February 25, 2018, 1081 suspected cases and 90 deaths have been reported from 18 states rising from the initial 54 recorded.

The states are Edo, Ondo, Bauchi, Nasarawa, Ebonyi, Anambra, Benue, Kogi, Imo, Plateau, Lagos, Taraba, Delta, Osun, Rivers, FCT, Gombe and Ekiti.

The new situation report showed that 36 people died within a week.

Fourteen health workers were also affected in six states, namely: Ebonyi (seven), Nasarawa (one), Kogi (one), Benue (one), Ondo (one) and Edo (three) with four deaths in Ebonyi and one in Kogi.

Read also: LASSA FEVER: UK deploys public health support team to Nigeria

Sixty-nine per cent of all confirmed cases are from Edo (43 per cent) and Ondo (26 per cent). Case Fatality Rate in confirmed and probable cases is 22 per cent.

As at last week, NCDC weekly epidemiological report released for ‘week seven’ disclosed that 913 suspected cases of the disease had been reported from 17 states.

Out of these, 272 cases were confirmed positive and 54 deaths recorded giving a case fatality rate of 21 per cent.

The situation report shows that the predominant age group affected is 21-40. The male to female ratio for confirmed cases is 2:1.

“A total of 2845 contacts have been identified from 18 active states and 1897 are currently being followed up,” the report noted.

 

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