Lassa fever epidemic has claimed 63 lives so far in Nigeria

Lassa fever epidemic has claimed 63 lives out of 212 reported from 62 local government areas in affected states''says the Minister of Health, Prof. Isaac Adewole . Speaking ‎at the emergency National Council of Health meeting in Abuja yesterday January 19th, The Minister listed the 17 affected states as Bauchi, Niger, Taraba, Kano, Rivers, Oyo, Ondo, Edo, Plateau, Gombe, Nasarawa, Lagos, Delta, Ekiti, Ebonyi, Zamfara, Kogi as well as the FCT.
       He announced that six of the most affected states will have Lassa fever diagnostic centres. They are Niger, Nasarawa, Taraba, Plateau, Bauchi and Ondo states.
       He said there is high level of denial and conspiracy across some states and appealed to health managers to stop the trend of being silent and deceiving their state government. He described the denial of Ebonyi to report five suspected cases and one death as conspiracy of denial.
 
This is in addition to the six existing Lassa fever treatment centres namely Irrua, Edo; University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital, Maiduguri, Borno; Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital Kano, Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH), University College Hospital Ibadan, and the National Centre for Disease Control, Asokoro, Abuja.