Lassa fever death toll in the country has risen to 70 as confirmed in a weekly situation report released by the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control said on Tuesday February 11.
The NCDC disclosed that there were 482 suspected cases of the disease with 104 new confirmed cases in the reported week. Eight deaths were also confirmed.
Lassa fever death toll rises to 70 in Nigeria
In the 5th week of the year, the number of new confirmed cases increased from 104 cases to 109 cases. 4 health workers in Ondo, Delta and Kaduna states were also affected by the disease in the 6th week of the year (which is the reporting week).
The recently reported cases are from 19 states which include Ondo, Edo, Ebonyi, Kano, Kogi, Kaduna, Delta, Taraba, Plateau, Bauchi, Enugu, Kebbi, Nasarawa, Rivers, Katsina, Benue, Adamawa, Sokoto and Oyo.
Lassa fever death toll rises to 70 in Nigeria
Nigeria recorded 1708 suspected cases, 472 confirmed cases, four probable cases and 70 deaths from 92 local government areas in 26 states from January 1 to February 9, and the NDCD has placed the case fatality rate (CFR) at 14.8 per cent.
Edo, Ondo and Ebonyi have in the last few years been topping Lassa fever charts, leading to speculation among health experts and scientists that the government is not doing enought to curb the disease.
