Lassa Fever: Three die in Ekiti

Three persons have been confirmed dead in a new outbreak of Lassa fever in Ekiti State.

The state’s Commissioner for Health, Olurotimi Ojo, who confirmed the development in Ado Ekiti on Tuesday, said five out of eight suspected cases tested negative while one was uncertain and the last one pending.

Mr. Ojo noted that the patient that tested positive and two others had died.

He however said there was no cause for alarm, as the state government was taking proactive steps in surveillance activities that involve all the residents due to the fact some neighbouring states had also been plagued by the disease.

He assured that the State Disease Control team had been activated while the process of sensitizing the people with jingles, adverts and other communication media were ongoing.

Mr. Ojo said similar actions taken during the 2016 outbreak were successful adding that the epidemic was perfectly controlled and the iidentified patient was properly managed, and he survived.

“The three isolation centres at Ido Federal Teaching Hospital, Ido Ekiti; Oba Adejuyigbe General Hospital, Ado Ekiti and the Ekiti State University Teaching Hospital, Ado Ekiti are still operational,” he said.

“We urge all stakeholders including health practitioners, teachers, traditional rulers, religious leaders as well as community and opinion leaders to join hands with the State Government to prevent the spread of the disease in the state.

“We advise the people in the state to avoid self medication and keeping sick people at home,” he said, adding, “any unusual increase in
temperature or fever must be reported to the nearest health facility.”

The commissioner also stressed the importance of environmental sanitation practices and general cleanliness, saying hands washing, good food storage as well as practice and enforcement of infection prevention and control at various health facilities must not be compromised.