The mandate secretary said that the first case was of a 14-month old female.
PEOPLES GAZETTE
The mandate secretary, FCT Health Services and Environment, Dr Dolapo Fasawe, says two Lassa fever cases have been confirmed in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) out of four suspected cases.
Ms Fasawe disclosed this on Monday at a news conference on the latest outbreak of the disease in Abuja.
Lassa fever is one of the viral hemorrhagic diseases and is caused by the Lassa virus.
Reported in other countries like Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia, Nigeria is fast becoming endemic with hot spot states including Edo, Ondo and Delta States.
According to Ms Fasawe, annually, the FCT experiences sporadic infections between November and April, so the city is in the middle of an outbreak.
She also said that the FCT had inaugurated the emergency operations centre to achieve a coordinated sub-national response and interrupt the transmission as soon as possible.
Giving a national update on the disease, she said that as of Monday, Nigeria had recorded cumulatively 486 suspected cases, confirmed 134 cases with 21 deaths, giving a case fatality rate of 15.7 per cent.
She, however, added that though the FCT has recorded four suspected cases and confirmed two, adding that there has been no related death from the disease.
The mandate secretary said that the first case was of a 14-month old female.
Narrating how the two confirmed cases came about, she said that on Jan. 15, the FCT Public Health Department received an alert of Lassa fever from a clinician in Bwari General Hospital.
“A Rapid Response Team was mobilised to investigate the cases, and it was revealed that the two children were high-risk contacts of their mother.
“Samples were collected and sent to the National Reference Lab for confirmation.
“The deceased was a confirmed case, diagnosed at the Tafawa Balewa Teaching Hospital, Bauchi.
“Following her demise, the father travelled on Jan. 9 to Bauchi to bring back the children who had accompanied their mother to Bauchi and returned to the FCT on Jan. 12.”
She added that the father later presented the children to Bwari General Hospital, and the facility notified the Public Health Department, and response commenced.
