35 Persons Dead in Abuja over Lassa Fever

  The outbreak of the deadly Lassa virus in Nigeria, Abuja the federal government Capital today recorded  35 persons said to have had contact with the patient who died from the disease in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT),while in River State 60  was placed under surveillance and  a doctor has die

Doctor with Rat texted with Laasa fever

 

Though the patient’s identity was yet to be made public, the health authorities confirmed that the person died on Wednesday at the National Hospital, Abuja.

The latest death from Lassa fever brings the total number of deaths to 43 in the country in 10 states of the federation.  
Prof. Abudulsalam Nasidi, Coordinator, Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), who confirmed the effort at contact tracing, also said 15 persons had been placed under surveillance in the city.

The number of people under surveillance, according to him, might increase before the end of yesterday, as the scope of contact tracing widens.

This is the second time a deadly virus has compelled the Nigerian health authorities to use contact tracing to monitor persons who have come in close contact with a carrier of an infectious disease.

During the Ebola outbreak in 2014, Nigeria won global praise for its effective contact tracing mechanism, which kept the disease from spiralling into an epidemic after the first patient, Mr. Patrick Sawyer, a Liberian, flew into Nigeria with the disease.

Like the Ebola virus, Lassa fever is spread by animals, but this time rats which transfer the disease when they come in contact with food and environments infested by rats.

Speaking on other efforts to contain the disease, the spokesperson of the National Hospital, Mr. Tayo Hastrup, said the hospital was setting up an isolation centre for treatment of Lassa fever, assuring the public that hospital workers are prepared for such cases should there be a recurrence.

Hastrup also revealed that the test conducted on another suspected patient was negative. He assured FCT residents that the hospital was adequately prepared and ready to deal with any emergency.
The dead patient was said to have been rushed to the National Hospital after eight days in a private hospital in Kubwa, a satellite town in FCT.

According to the Medical Director of National Hospital, Dr. Jack Momoh, “The patient was brought in unconscious from a private hospital in Kubwa where he was admitted for eight days.

“The 33-year-old was recently married and lived in Jos, Plateau State but had come to see a family member in Kubwa because of his illness. He however died within 24 hours of admission at the National Hospital.”

Meanwhile, in Minna, Niger State, which has recorded 16 deaths, the Minister of Health, Prof. Isaac Adewole, yesterday assured Nigerians that plans were underway to strengthen the Lassa fever alert system for effective monitoring of the disease in the country.
The minister made this known during a courtesy call on the governor of the state, Alhaji Abubakar Bello.

Adewole noted that it was the failure of the notification system that made it impossible for the ministry to respond promptly to the situation in Niger State, adding that the federal government’s mission and mandate in the health sector is to keep every Nigerian safe.

He said all hands must be on deck to sustain the current effort to stem the spread of the disease by ensuring that the Federal Ministry of Health is immediately notified of any strange death or disease, because, adding: “Every life counts and every death also counts.”
The minister also urged the general public to avoid contact with rodents/rats as well as food/objects contaminated with rat secretion/excretion.

In his remarks, the Niger State Commissioner for Health and Health Services, Dr. Mustapha Jibril, explained that despite the delay in notification and unwillingness of the people to give information, the state government swung into action with the support of the federal government, World Health Organisation (WHO) and other relevant agencies to nip the disease in the bud.

On the 16 deaths recorded at Fuka ward, Muyan Local Government Area of Niger State, the minister who visited the area said: “So far things are under control in areas visited but I will advise the state and local government councils where deaths were recorded in Niger State to put an alert system in place to enable us track new cases whenever they happen.”

The minister also ordered the immediate renovation of the Primary Healthcare Centre in Fuka and reposition it to render 24 hours service.

Adewole gave the directive to the Executive Director, National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA), Dr. Ado Muhammad, when he visited the community where 16 people were killed by the current Lassa fever outbreak on January 13.

The minister noted that if the primary health care centre had been operational, it would have alerted the Federal Ministry of Health at the onset of the outbreak of the disease in the community and prompt response would have saved lives.

While sympathising with the community head and members of the village, Adewole encouraged them to report to the health officials as soon as they feel ill for immediate and effective diagnosis.
He also cautioned against self-medication and resort to traditional care, informing them that there are specific drugs for the treatment of Lassa fever in hospitals.

But just as the minister announced that there had been no medical personnel infected with the disease, there were reports from the Braithwaite Memorial Specialist Hospital (BMSH) in Port Harcourt in Rivers State that a medical doctor, Levi Ijamala, had succumbed to the virus.

Chairman of the Rivers State branch of the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA), Dr. Furo Green, confirmed the death of Dr. Ijamala in Port Harcourt yesterday at a news conference on the three-day warning strike embarked upon by medical doctors in public hospitals and primary healthcare facilities to protest the spate of abductions of their colleagues by unknown gunmen.

Green, who stated that 50 per cent of those infected by the dreaded virus, in most cases, lose their lives, lamented that “medical doctors who have direct contact with such patients are usually those who primarily become victims of such contagious diseases”.

“While we are not happy to go on strike, the strike now appears to be a blessing in disguise because fewer doctors and patients came to the hospital today, thereby reducing the rate of personal contact among medical doctors and patients,” he said.
Green, who is a consultant at BMSH, confirmed that Ijamala, who worked at the Disease Control Unit of the same hospital, had contacted the virus while treating patients infected by the virus.

The chairman of the Rivers State NMA disclosed that officials of the World Health Organisation (WHO) in the state had visited the hospital to assess the situation.

He added that the remains of Ijamala had been buried in accordance with WHO protocols for victims of contagious diseases.
Meanehile, Adewole while appearing before the Senate Committee on Health in Abuja yesterday, described the outbreak of Lassa fever in Nigeria which had claimed over 40 lives as a national embarrassment.

Adewole, who made this remarks when he appeared before the Senate Committee on Health, said the disease is native to three West African countries of Nigeria, Sierra Leone and Guinea.

He said it was surprising that the disease which had been in Nigeria for decades has refused to go away, noting that unlike Ebola which was alien to the nation, Lassa fever has been in existence in Nigeria for decades.

“Unlike Ebola, which took the nation by surprise last year, after being imported from Liberia by an infected person, Lassa fever which has over the years  registered its presence in the country , supposed not to have taken us by surprise, but had infected people reported promptly,” he said.

According to him, the current outbreak began in August last year in Foka village in Niger State but has snowballed into an epidemic across nine states of the federation because its infection as well as death of victims were not promptly reported to appropriate authorities.

He said the Foka incident in Niger State last year killed no fewer than 17 villagers in quick succession without any prompt report to the state government due to superstitious beliefs that once a new market is being opened in the area, some people must lose their lives as a form of rituals for the  commemoration of the new village market.

Hence, he said inhabitants of the village did not initially see the deaths as resulting from a strange ailment until the child of a village school headmaster died in December.

Adewole disclosed that nine laboratories had been designated across the country for prompt detection of the infectious virus usually transmitted by rodents to man.
The six functioning laboratories, he said, are located in Ibadan, Abuja, Maiduguri, Kano, Irrua and Lagos.

Please let us be watchful about our lives wash ur hands always with soap and report to the nearest hospital any time your feeling fever

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