As the attention of the world is focused on Coronavirus (COVID-19), the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) says that the death toll from the outbreak of Lassa fever has risen to 173.
Lassa fever, a type of viral hemorrhagic fever caused by the Lassa virus, was first described in 1969 from a case in the town of Lassa, in Borno State, Northeast Nigeria.
Director-General of NCDC, Dr Chikwe Ihekweazu, while giving update on the Lassa fever outbreak which has been ravaging Nigeria for the last three months, said that the figure represents a Case Fatality Rate (CFR) of 18.9 per cent.
Saying that the NCDC has been managing the national Lassa fever outbreak despite international and national focus on COVID-19, Dr Ihekweazu said that in week 12, the number of new confirmed cases decreased from 51 in week 11 to 28 cases.
The NCDC DG said that there were reported case in 12 States of Nigeria, namely, Edo, Ondo, Ebonyi, Bauchi, Taraba, Plateau, Kogi, Abia, Enugu, FCT, Benue and Gombe.
According to him, “this is cumulatively from week one to week 12., 173 deaths have been reported with CFR of 18.9 per cent which is lower than the CFR for the same period in 2019 with 22.9 per cent. In total for 2020, 27 states have recorded at least one confirmed case across 125 Local Government Areas.
“Of all confirmed cases, 72 per cent are from three states, which are Edo,with 33 per cent, Ondo with 32 per cent and Ebonyi with seven per cent. The predominant age-group affected is 21 to 30 years, range: from one to 78 years, Median Age: 33 years. The male to female ratio for confirmed cases is 1:1.2.”
Dr Ihekweazu said that the number of suspected cases had significantly increased compared to that reported for the same period in 2019.