Lassa Fever Outbreak Kills Dozens in Nigeria
At least 29 killed and 195 cases of the disease confirmed in the latest Lassa fever outbreak to hit the country, the government says.
Lassa fever is a viral haemorrhagic fever. It belongs to the same family as the Ebola and Marburg viruses but is much less deadly. The disease is endemic to the West African country and its name comes from the town of Lassa in northern Nigeria where it was first identified in 1969.
Previously, cases of the disease have been reported in Sierra Leone, Liberia, Togo and Benin – where it killed at least 9 people in 2016. As of 24th of January 2020, 195 confirmed cases and 29 deaths had been reported in 11 states,” the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) said in a statement on Saturday.
A national emergency operations centre had been activated to coordinate the response “to the increasing number of Lassa fever cases” across the country.
The virus is transmitted to humans from contact with food or household items contaminated with rodent faeces or urine. The disease is endemic in the rodent population in parts of West Africa.
Lassa fever is asymptomatic in 80 percent of cases but for some, it can cause fever, physical fatigue, nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea, headaches, abdominal pains or sore throat. Swelling of the neck or face can sometimes be observed.
The number of Lassa fever infections across West Africa every year is between 100,000 to 300,000, with about 5,000 deaths, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Last year, the disease claimed more than 160 lives in Nigeria.
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