73 die as Lassa fever hits 17 states
- The dreaded Lassa fever disease has spread to 17 states, with Ondo and Edo bearing 75 percent of the burden which has led to 73 deaths
- The disease is said to be spreading rapidly due to the high cost of ribavirin, the drug which is used for treatment when the virus is detected early
- The facilities in Edo and Ondo states are said to be overstretched; and the numbers are expected to rise further
Seventeen states have been hit with the Lassa fever disease which has led to 73 deaths, with 913 suspected cases. According to The Guardian, Edo and Ondo states have borne 75 percent of the burden.
Legit.ng gathers that data published by the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) showed that in just days (from 615 on February 13 to 913 on February 23), cases of the disease had skyrocketed to nearly 50 percent.
A major factor for the wide spread of the disease has been identified as the high cost of ribavirin, the anti-retroviral drug used to treat it, which costs N500,000 per patient.
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This means that in order to treat the 913 suspected cases, the federal government would need more than N456.5 million.
If given early in the course of clinical illness, ribavirin seems to be an effective treatment; however, there is currently no vaccine that protects against Lassa fever.
Accordingly, the only thing that can save patients’ lives is prompt detection and early onset of treatment.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has included the virus in its list of pathogens that pose the most urgent threat to human existence.
Reacting to the development, the national coordinator and chief executive officer of NCDC, Dr Chikwe Ihekweazu, said: “The numbers are still increasing. We are doing everything possible to contain the situation. The facilities in the two states with 75 per cent of the burden are overstretched; that is Irrua Specialist Hospital, Edo state, and Federal Medical Centre (FMC) Owo, Ondo. The situation is also bad in Ebonyi.
“We have to focus on prevention; especially the health workers who are very vulnerable. They have to always use universal precaution."
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Meanwhile, Legit.ng previously reported that the federal government, through the health minister, Professor Isaac Adewole, reportedly decried the alarming increase in the cases of Lassa fever across the country as he warned health workers to adhere to universal precautions.
Adewole said there were 77 recorded suspected cases of the disease in Nigeria as at January 2018, adding: “15 states are already affected while Edo state has the highest number of those people infected, followed by Ondo State and Bauchi state has the lowest number of those infected.”
Speaking at the emergency national council on health meeting in Abuja, the minister lamented that this is the first time the country would witness such number of cases in the last 30 years.
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Source: Legit.ng
