Lassa fever, an animal-borne or zoonotic, acute viral illness spread by the common African rat also known as the mastomys rat species, has been endemic in Nigeria and some other West African countries since 2016 and therefore has been on the increase since then, with more occurrence than before in 2022.
The centre stated, “Cumulatively from week 1 to week 20 in 2022, 153 deaths have been reported with a case fatality stop of 19.8 per cent. 23 states have recorded at least one confirmed case across 96 local government areas in 2022.
The center added that 68 percent of the confirmed cases are from Ondo, Edo and Bauchi States. The predominant age group affected is between 21 and 30 years old (range 1 to 90 years, median age: 30 years
The Deputy Director, Institute of Viral Haemorrhagic Fever and Emergent Pathogens, Irrua Specialist Teaching Hospital, Edo State, Dr Joseph Okoeguale, in an interview with The PUNCH, lamented that efforts to stop the annual outbreak of the disease have not yielded results.
He, however said there were ongoing efforts to produce vaccine for the disease.