Patients in
stable condition as experts recommend optimal hygiene, zero-tolerance to rats
The Chief
Medical Director of Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH), Prof.
Chris
Bode, has said that besides the three persons under surveillance that tested
positive to Lassa fever, the 150 persons currently under surveillance, and two
others confirmed dead on Tuesday, the virus is “now under check.”
Bode, who
made the assertion yesterday, told The Guardian that there are “no new cases of
Lassa fever.” He said the affected resident doctor and the two new patients are
in stable condition and responding to treatment. He, however, said that the 150
people exposed to the cases are still under surveillance.
Also, a
22-year-old male patient was yesterday reported to have been under medical
observation for suspected Lassa fever case at the Ogun State General Hospital,
Ijaiye, Abeokuta.
The state
Commissioner for Health, Dr. Babatunde Ipaye, who confirmed the case to
journalists, said the patient had been placed under watch by doctors.The
paediatric surgeon said there is no cause for alarm but Lagosians and indeed
Nigerians must improve on their personal and community hygiene.
“There must
be zero-tolerance to rats. Cover your food items such as garri, beans and rice
from the reach of rats and other rodents. They are the carriers of this virus,”
he advised.
According to
the latest figures on Lassa fever in Nigeria from the World Health Organisation
(WHO): “Lassa fever is an acute viral haemorrhagic fever illness that is known
to be endemic in various West African countries, including Nigeria. As of June
9, 2017, a total of 501 suspected cases, including 104 deaths, have been
reported since the onset of the current Lassa fever outbreaks season in
December 2016. Of the reported cases, 189 have been further classified, 175
laboratory-confirmed, including 59 deaths and 14 probable cases (all dead).
“Until this
August 2017, during the current Lassa fever outbreak, 17 Nigerian states
(Anambra, Bauchi, Borno, Cross-River, Ebonyi, Edo, Enugu, Gombe, Kaduna, Kano,
Kogi, Nasarawa, Ogun, Ondo, Plateau, Rivers and Taraba) have reported at least
one confirmed case. As of June 9, 2017, the outbreak is still active in nine
states (Anambra, Bauchi, Cross-River, Edo, Taraba, Nasarawa, Ondo, Plateau and
Kano).”
The WHO said
the ongoing outbreak response is focused at state and federal levels and
involves co-ordination of weekly Lassa fever review meeting in conjunction with
World Health Organisation, United States Centres for Disease Control and
Prevention, the University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB) and the African Field
Epidemiology Network.
According to
the organisation, the following response measures are being carried out:
• Enhanced
surveillance ongoing in all affected states and Lassa fever cases are reported
to the federal level and contact-tracing ongoing in affected states with an
active outbreak through the state surveillance team.
• The line
listing of cases reported across all the states is ongoing and data are
uploaded in the VHF database.
• Lassa
fever treatment centres have been established in the affected states to support
case management. These centres are supplied with case management as well as
infection prevention and control supplies.
Guardian
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