Lassa fever claims 15 lives in Ondo

102 infected

No fewer than 102 people have been confirmed to be positive with Lassa fever with addition of 15 people who died in Ondo State between January and February this year.

The state Chairman of Nigerian Medical Association (NMA), Wale Oke disclosed this while speaking with reporters in Akure, the state capital.

According to him, “As at Thursday February 21, 102 people have been positive to Lassa fever this year. 82 people in January and 20 people so far in Febuary apart from 15 people dead in January as a result of the fever but no death has been recorded so far in February.

“Most people that died either reported late or were already subjected to alternative treatment and doing self-medication before they eventually came to hospital.Their kidneys and livers had been affected as a result of the delay.

Oke, who also works at Federal Medical Centre (FMC) Owo, urged residents of the state to report early to the medical centre if they experienced upsurge of temperature in their bodies.

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He said “We have contact tracing mechanism whereby we can place on surveillance for 21 days those that may have contact with infected person. We continue to monitor their temperature if it is above 37.8 and ask them quick treatment.

According to him, the centre has the highest success rate out of the three treatment centers in Nigeria for Lassa fever cases treatment, giving kudos to its management team.

He added that the state government had put in place measures to curtail the fever and that the government had declared state of emergency on health sector.

Oke explained that Ondo NMA alongside Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and others had engaged in series of sensitization exercises for the people of the state.

He said the exercise was aimed at preventing further cases in the state, saying “NMA is concerned with the infection, prevention and control out of the so many pillars involved in the management of Lassa fever hence the basis for the sensitization.”

He however disclosed that Owo, Ose, Akoko North, Akure South and Akure North are the local government areas of the state with the recorded cases.