Nigeria: NCDC reports 11 new deaths due to Lassa fever

Nigeria Centre for Disease Control has said in a report that 11 more people died due to the ongoing Lassa fever outbreak on Wednesday, according to a media report by Premium Times. Taking into account the new deaths, the death toll due to the outbreak has reached 132.

Although the new coronavirus outbreak has overshadowed the news of the Lassa outbreak in the country, Nigeria is still monitoring and responding to the disease.

NCDC said in its report that a total of 421 suspected cases, 85 were confirmed and 11 deaths were reported from 30 local governments in nine states, these states are Edo, Ondo, Ebonyi, Bauchi, Plateau, Benue, Kogi, Taraba, and Kebbi.

In comparison with the previous year, there have been more suspected, confirmed and death cases reported for the same period this year.

In a comparison of week one to week nine, this year, 3054 suspect cases, 775 confirmed and 132 deaths have been reported, while in 2019 there were 1374 suspected cases, 420 confirmed and 93 deaths for the same period in 2019.

Of all confirmed cases, 73 percent are from Edo (34 percent), Ondo (32 percent) and Ebonyi (7 percent) states. Also, the predominant age-group affected due to the disease is 21-30 years and the male to female ratio for confirmed cases is 1:1.2.