Suspected Lassa fever patient dies in Abuja hospital
A patient who died on Wednesday afternoon during treatment at a hospital in Abuja is suspected to have been infected with Lassa fever. It was gathered that the deceased, Joy Nana Bashir, was brought to the hospital on Sunday from Kagini, a local community off Kubwa – Zuba expressway, where she resided. Our reporter who […]
FILE PHOTO: Lassa fever Infection, prevention and control measures at FETHA, Abakaliki, Ebonyi State
A patient who died on Wednesday afternoon during treatment at a hospital in Abuja is suspected to have been infected with Lassa fever.
It was gathered that the deceased, Joy Nana Bashir, was brought to the hospital on Sunday from Kagini, a local community off Kubwa – Zuba expressway, where she resided.
Our reporter who visited the hospital around 4:00pm today, witnessed how the hospital’s Department of Accident and Emergency was put on isolation, with a cleaner fully dressed in mask, fumigating the frontage of the building.
The Chief Medical Director of the hospital, Dr Muideen Lasisi, who was seen busy and shuttling between the department and hospital morgue where the victim was deposited, also confirmed the death.
He said the sample of the deceased’s blood was taken and sent to the zonal office of the National Centre for Diseases Control in Abuja’s city centre for examination.
He further explained that while the incident that resulted to her death is still under suspicion as it is yet to be confirmed as at the time of the visit, all the patients admitted at the department have been evacuated to a safer and dedicated alternative building, just as a unit there was curved out for any incoming patient with likely similar problem.
He said all medical staff that attended to the deceased were categorised into three, adding that those that fall into the first category were already put under normal drugs for the disease treatment.
Dr. Lasisi said a similar incident was recorded in the hospital last week after a patient had died but who was later confirmed to be positive, after blood sample taken from her remains was examined.
Our reporter also saw a family member of the deceased while being advised by the hospital’s director to hasten the burial arrangement of the late woman.