Lassa fever kills 127 in 4 months – NCDC

Lassa fever has claimed 127 lives between January and April this year, the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (NCDC) has said. The NCDC in a situation report issued Tuesday said the cases were recorded across 18 states. “Cumulatively in week 14, 2025, 127 deaths have been reported with a Case Fatality Rate (CFR) […]

Lassa fever has claimed 127 lives between January and April this year, the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (NCDC) has said.

The NCDC in a situation report issued Tuesday said the cases were recorded across 18 states.

“Cumulatively in week 14, 2025, 127 deaths have been reported with a Case Fatality Rate (CFR) of 18.8% which is higher than the CFR for the same period in 2024 (18.5%).

“In total for 2025, 18 States have recorded at least one confirmed case across 93 Local Government Areas,” it said.

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NCDC said 71% of all confirmed Lassa fever cases were reported from three states – Ondo, Bauchi and Edo while 28% were reported from 15 states with confirmed Lassa fever cases.

It added that of the 71% confirmed cases, Ondo reported 30%, Bauchi 25%, and Edo 16%.

The agency highlighted that the number of new confirmed cases increased from 14 in week 13, of 2025 to 15.

It said these were reported in Ondo, Bauchi, Edo, Taraba, Ebonyi, and Gombe States, adding that no new healthcare worker was affected in the reporting week 14.

While saying that the number of suspected cases this year decreased compared to that reported for the same period in 2024, NCDC said the National Lassa fever multi-partner, multi-sectoral Incident Management System (IMS) has been activated to coordinate the response activities at all levels.

The agency added that the predominant age group affected is 21-30 years.