Lassa virus can be transmitted to humans through contact with food or household items contaminated by infected rodents. Person-to-person transmission can also occur, particularly in hospital environment in the absence of adequate infection control measures.
The viral haemorrhagic illness is zoonotic and infected rodents in the mastomysnatalensis species complex are reservoirs capable of excreting the virus through urine, saliva, excreta and other body fluids to man.
Death toll from Lassa fever has risen to 70 while confirmed number of cases “significantly” increased across 26 states in Nigeria.
According to the Lassa Fever weekly situation report according to the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), a total of 109 cases were confirmed out of 482 suspected cases from 3rd to 9th February (week 06). This brings the total number of confirmed cases to 472 in 2020.
“The number of suspected cases has significantly increased compared to that reported for the same period in 2019”, the report read.
Lassa fever is endemic in parts of West Africa including Sierra Leone, Liberia and Nigeria. The illness was discovered in 1969 and is named after the town in Nigeria where the first cases occurred.
Apart from the assumed public, the disease has even dealt a steeper blow to health physicians who attend to patients without prior knowledge that such patience is suffering from the ailment.
Outbreaks of the disease have been reported in various parts of Nigeria and the most recent of them is the on-going outbreak.
In the reporting week, eight deaths were recorded and the confirmed cases were reported from 19 states to include; Ondo, Edo, Ebonyi, Kano, Kogi, Kaduna, Delta, Taraba, Plateau, Bauchi, Enugu, Kebbi, Nasarawa, Rivers, Katsina, Benue, Adamawa, Sokoto and Oyo states.
In total for 2020, 26 states have recorded at least one confirmed case across 92 Local Government Areas.
Of all confirmed cases, 74 percent are from three states; 35 percent from Edo, 33 percent from Ondo and 6 percent from Ebonyi state.
There have been several Lassa fever outbreaks since it was first reported in 1969 with the worst outbreak recorded of Lassa fever in its history between 2015 and 2016, with 273 reported cases resulting to 149 deaths. Also in February 25, 2018, where there were 1081 suspected cases and 90 reported deaths; 317 of the cases and 72 deaths were confirmed as Lassa fever in 18 states of the country.
OladoyinOdubanjo chair, Association of Public Health Physicians of Nigeria (APHPN), Lagos Chapter said critical factor increasing the risk of its spread is poor living condition and return to old habits as soon as the epidemic is contained.
“Effective surveillance is clearly important, containment and general precautions measure will minimise risk of viral transmission”
Odubanjo said “All we need to do is to practise more universal care precautions at all times generally and avoid reverting to old habits. People need to practice more hygiene, which is very important and the environment needs to be cleaner.”
“We have to be very careful with our living condition, in all these cases of outbreaks simple basic hygiene by washing and cleaning hands would help and the government needs to improve in assisting states with epidemic so as to live well” Odubajo said.
According to World Health Organisation (WHO) the incubation period of Lassa fever ranges from 6–21 days. The onset of the disease, when it is symptomatic, is usually gradual, starting with fever, general weakness, and malaise. After a few days, headache, sore throat, muscle pain, chest pain, nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea, cough, and abdominal pain may follow. In severe cases facial swelling, fluid in the lung cavity, bleeding from the mouth, nose, vagina or gastrointestinal tract and low blood pressure may develop.
Death usually occurs within 14 days of onset in fatal cases. The disease is especially severe late in pregnancy, with maternal death and/or fetal loss occurring in more than 80% of cases during the third trimester.
The incidence of Lassa fever cases in Nigeria continues to increase despite ongoing efforts to control the disease.
Ojo Sikiru a Lagos based medical practitioner who said that until recently, the burden of Lassa fever disease outbreak is thought to be a problem infecting some many states in Nigeria. However, the reoccurrence has indicated that the disease outbreak has no preparedness and there are many critical gaps that need to be filled to protect Nigerians from the next major event.
“The Federal Government should think more about the research areas that will strengthen the country to control Lassa fever,” he said
Sikiru added that Using these rodents as food source should be discouraged, Enlightenment and awareness of the public on risk factors associated with spread of disease is important for prevention.
“Protective measures should be put in place to reduce human infection and infected persons should be isolated and their body fluids and excrements properly disposed. Healthcare workers should take proper precautions in order to curtail spread of disease through the use of Personal Protective Equipment,” he advised.
ANTHONIA OBOKOH
