Lassa Fever Kills 142 People In 11 Weeks

The death toll of Lassa fever in Nigeria so far this year has risen to 142, according to the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention.

In its eleventh week Lassa fever situation report, the NCDC said there had been a total of 784 confirmed cases recorded from 23 states and 97 local government areas since the beginning of the year.

A total of 3,826 suspected cases were recorded from January to March 19, 2023.

With the current death toll, the public health institution noted that the case-fatality ratio of the outbreak stood at 18.1 per cent.

It added that the predominant age group affected in the country was 21 to 30 years, with the male-to-female ratio for confirmed cases being 10:9.

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According to the World Health Organisation, Lassa fever is an acute viral hemorrhagic illness caused by the Lassa virus, a member of the arenavirus family of viruses. Humans usually become infected with the Lassa virus through exposure to food or household items contaminated with the urine or faeces of infected Mastomys rats. The disease is endemic in the rodent population in parts of West Africa.

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Lassa fever is known to be endemic in Benin, Ghana, Guinea, Liberia, Mali, Sierra Leone, Togo, and Nigeria, but probably exists in other West African countries as well.

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