Lassa fever kills 8 in single week

Eight more people have been killed this week in the ongoing outbreak of Lassa fever across the country.

The eight come from a total of 109 people confirmed infected with the virus across 19 states.

Among the confirmed cases are four health workers in Ondo, Delta and Katsina within the week.

A total of 482 cases are classed as “suspected”—without laboratory testing to confirm whether or not they are Lassa fever infections.

The latest deaths bring to 70 the number of people killed in the outbreak since the start of January.

A total of 472 cases have been confirmed positive for Lassa fever infections this year, from 1708 suspected across 26 states.

The weekly epidemiological report of the Nigeria Centre for Diseases shows an increasing trend from previous week of cases considered probably Lassa fever, number of health workers affected, and patients on treatment.

Some 137 patients are hospitalized in treatment centres, and up to 2,283 people are under followup.