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
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| 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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