What You Should Know About Lassa Fever As It Spreads To 11 States And Kills 42

The recent wave of Lassa fever in the country
has affected more than ten states, with 85
reported cases and 42 deaths including two
recent deaths in Ondo state, bringing the total
number of states affected to eleven.

The states affected are: Bauchi, Taraba,
Niger, Kano, Rivers, Edo, Nassarawa,
Plateau, Oyo, Gombe and Ondo states.
Lassa fever is an acute viral hemorrhagic
fever caused by the Lassa virus. It is
commonly found in West African
countries.
The virus is a member of the Arenaviridae
family and is a single-stranded RNA virus.
Due to a lack of proper information
management by most African countries, an
exact number of yearly infection is not
known.
It is, however, estimated that there are
about 100,000 to 300,000 infections and
about 5,000 deaths yearly.
Lassa fever is named after a town in Borno
state
Lassa fever was first recorded in 1969 in
the northeastern town of Lassa, when two
missionary nurses contracted the sickness,
and died thereafter from it.
The sickness is spread through
The consumption of infected Rats,
consumption of food containing droppings
and urine of infected rats, and exchange of
bodily fluids with infected person.
Natal multimammate mouse found
commonly in sub-Saharan African
countries are the main host of the Lassa
virus.
Nigeria, and several other West African
countries, experience yearly outbreak of
Lassa fever.
This year, 2016, had the highest number of
Lassa fever cases in Nigeria with a
mortality rate of 43.2% (so far there has
been about 83 number of Lassa fever cases
and 40 deaths in 10 states within the
country). Lassa fever is similar to Ebola
Lassa fever and Ebola are both acute viral
hemorrhagic fevers and are caused by RNA
viruses.
Both viral infections suppress the immune
system and present themselves as
headache, nausea and vomiting, and
muscle pain. Both, also, typical have an
incubation period of 1-3 weeks.
It is difficult to clinically distinguish Lassa
fever from Ebola and malaria
Lassa fever virus is present in the urine
and Fluid of survivors for 3-12 weeks after.