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Nigeria has recorded at least 200 deaths from Lassa fever in the last 11 months despite intensified government measures to reduce infections across the country.
“The Nigeria Center for Disease Control (NCDC) announced that there had been 1,170 confirmed cases from 114 local governments in 28 states from the start of this year to December 3,” according to reports.
The report from the public health establishment states that the case fatality rate of the Lassa fever epidemic is 17.1%, for a total of 8,542 suspected cases.
In some cases, Lassa fever presents symptoms similar to malaria, appearing between one and three weeks after exposure to the virus. In mild cases, the disease causes fever, fatigue, weakness and headaches.
The disease is endemic in the rodent population of certain parts of West Africa.
According to the World Health Organization, “Lassa fever is an acute viral hemorrhagic disease caused by the Lassa virus, a member of the arenevirus family of viruses.”
Humans are usually infected with Lassa virus through exposure to food or familiar foodstuffs contaminated with the urine or faeces of infected Mastomys rats.
