Media reports indicates that no fewer than 15 persons have been confirmed killed by the deadly Lassa fever in Ondo State between January and February 2019. It was also revealed that the disease had infected 102 persons in the state within the period under review.
The Ondo State Chairman of the Nigerian Medical Association disclosed this to journalists in Akure, the state capital. According to him, Owo, Ose, Akoko North, Akure South and Akure North local government areas are the areas in the state where the cases were recorded. He said, “As of Thursday February 21, 2019, 102 people have been positive to Lassa fever, 82 people in January and 20 people so far in February. About 15 people have died 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 works at the Federal Medical Centre, Owo, urged residents of the state to report early to the medical centre if they experienced upsurge of temperature in their bodies.
He, however, noted that the FMC had the highest success rate out of the three centres for Lassa fever treatment in Nigeria. “We have contact tracing mechanism whereby we can place on surveillance for 21 days those that may have contact with an infected person. We continue to monitor their temperature if it is above 37.8 and ask them quick for treatment,” he stated. The medical doctor added that the state government had put in place measures to curtail the fever and that the government had declared a state of emergency in the health sector. Oke explained that Ondo NMA, alongside the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and other stakeholders, had engaged in series of sensitisation programmes for the people of the state in a bid to prevent spread of the disease in the state. He said, “Since the outbreak of Lassa fever, we have been moving round all the health facilities to sensitise our people on the need to maintain universal caution and also to be vigilant.”
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