Lassa fever outbreak hits record high 90 deaths

The ongoing Lassa fever epidemic reached record highs this week alone after laboratory tests confirmed 54 new cases of the disease in eight states, according to the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control. Between January 1 and February 25, 1,081 cases suspected to be Lassa have been reported across 18 states and 90 people have died. […]

The ongoing Lassa fever epidemic reached record highs this week alone after laboratory tests confirmed 54 new cases of the disease in eight states, according to the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control.

Between January 1 and February 25, 1,081 cases suspected to be Lassa have been reported across 18 states and 90 people have died.

In the first six weeks of 2018 alone, some 458 cases were supposed to be Lassa: 125 were confirmed by lab tests, and 36 people died across 27 states.. by contrast last year, 138 suspected cases were reported across 10 states and 21 people died.

At least 69% of the all the infections this year have been in Edo and Ondo states.

The latest confirmed infections also come from Nasarawa, Ebonyi, Plateau, Kogi, Imo and Ekiti—and include 14 health workers.

Over the weekend, 42 people were hospitalised at Irrua Specialist Hospital, which runs a reference lab for Lassa fever. All 21 isolation beds at Federal Medical Centre, Owo are occupied,  NCDC said in its situation report.

Ten new deaths have been recorded in Ondo, Edo, Plateau, Ekiti, and Ebonyi.

At least 2,845 have been identified across states, and 1,897 are currently being followed up to determine their status.