Nigeria's death toll from Lassa fever rises to 101

Nigeria's death toll from Lassa fever rises to 101

- The death toll from the Lassa fever disease ravaging the country since the beginning of 2018 has risen to 101

- The Nigerian Centre for Disease Control gave this figure in its situation report

- It also said that a total of 408 cases of the disease have been confirmed in 20 states

The Nigerian Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) has said that the death toll from the Lassa fever disease ravaging the country since the beginning of 2018, has risen to 101.

According to its situation report as at April 8, a total of 408 cases of the disease have been confirmed in 20 states where the disease has been active, Premium Times reports.

Legit.ng notes that the affected states are Abia, Anambra, Bauchi, Benue, Delta, Ebonyi, Edo, Ekiti, Federal Capital Territory, Gombe, Imo, Kogi, Lagos, Nasarawa, Ondo, Osun, Plateau, Rivers, and Taraba.

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States topping the chart with the highest reported cases are Edo, Ondo and Ebonyi.

It was learnt that there is a total of 4480 contacts identified through contact tracing of people who had got in contact with confirmed cases, from the 20 Lassa fever active states.

In 2018, Nigeria is witnessing the largest outbreak ever of the disease since it was first discovered in Nigeria in 1969.

According to the epidemiological chart by NCDC for this week, there has, however, been a steady decline in the outbreak compared to when it started, though there are still pocket outbreaks across the country.

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Meanwhile, Legit.ng previously reported that with 2017's outbreak of Lassa fever being the highest so far, recording 394 confirmed cases of the disease and 95 deaths, Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), urged the federal government to take the epidemic seriously.

Oyewale Tomori, a professor of virology, said on Monday, March 26, at a high level panel discussion organised in Abuja by the NCDC on the state of Lassa fever in Nigeria, remarked that it was lamentable that Nigeria was yet to find a lasting solution to Lassa fever 49 years after it was first discovered.

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Source: Legit.ng

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