Lassa fever death toll rises

The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control said the number of deaths associated with Lassa fever in January 2020 had risen to 24, with 163 cases reported confirmed, The PUNCH reports.

In the situation report, which is based on data retrieved from the National Lassa fever Technical Working Group, published by the NCDC for the third week of January 2020, the number of new confirmed cases rose from 64 cases in week one, 2020 to 81 in the third week of the month.

The report said the cases were reported from Ondo, Edo, Delta, Taraba, Plateau and Bauchi states.

NCDC said, “The overall case fatality rate for 2020 is 14.7 per cent, which is lower than the fatality rate for the same period during 2019 (23.4 per cent). In total for 2020, nine states have recorded at least one confirmed case across 32 Local Government Areas.”

It added that out of the confirmed cases, 89 per cent were reported from Edo, which had 38 per cent; Ondo, which also recorded 38 per cent; and Ebonyi with 11 per cent. The centre added that the predominant age-group affected by the disease was 11-40 years.
The report said 42 new confirmed cases were reported from Ondo State while 33 were reported from Edo State.

It added that one new case was recorded in Taraba and Plateau states, with two cases recorded in each of Bauchi and Delta states.

Fifty-seven cases are undergoing treatment in various treatment centres across the country.

NCDC said suspected cases included any individual presenting with one or more of fever, headache, sore throat, cough, nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea, myalgia, chest pain, hearing loss and either a history of contact with excreta or urine of rodents or history of contact with a probable or confirmed Lassa fever case.

From the report, NCDC said the number of suspected cases had increased but lower than the number of cases reported in 2019. It said that there was no record of any health care worker infected during the third week.