The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), says thirteen additional new cases of Lassa fever has been confirmed in seven days from five states, namely; Ondo, Edo, Kogi, Ebonyi and Imo.
According to the NCDC‘s epidemiology data, which was made available to newsmen on Monday, 70% of infections have occurred in three states since the beginning of 2022: Ondo (31%), Edo (26%), and Bauchi (26%). (13 per cent).
Lassa fever is an acute viral hemorrhagic illness caused by the Lassa virus. People usually become infected with the virus through exposure to food or household items contaminated with urine or faeces of infected rats – present in several West African countries where the disease is endemic.
The virus could also be spread through infected bodily fluids.
The public health agency said that the country had recorded 165 deaths in 17 states.
According to the agency,” the number of new confirmed cases in 31 weeks increased from 10 in week 30, 2022 to 13 cases.
These were reported from Ondo, Edo, Kogi, Ebonyi and Imo states.
“Cumulatively from week 1 to week 31, 2022, 165 deaths have been reported with a case fatality rate (CFR) of 18.8 per cent which is lower than the CFR for the same period in 2021 (23.1 per cent).
“In total for 2022, 25 States have recorded at least one confirmed case across 100 Local Government Areas.
“Of all confirmed cases, 70 per cent are from Ondo (31 per cent), Edo (26 per cent), and Bauchi (13 per cent) States,”.
The NCDC stated that the predominant age group affected were 21-30 years (Range. zero to 90 years, Median Age: 30 years.
It said that the male-to-female ratio for confirmed cases was 1:0.8.
“The number of suspected cases has increased compared to that reported for the same period in 2021.
It added that no new health worker was affected in week 31.
