Lassa Fever: 4 Killed, One Doctor Affected In Taraba

The Commissioner for Health Taraba State, Dr Innocent Vakkai, confirmed the death of four persons while speaking with journalists in Jalingo, the state capital, he stated;

‘Four persons have been confirmed dead, while one medical doctor working with the Federal Medical Center, FMC Jalingo has also been affected by Lasser fever’.

He said the ministry had recorded 15 suspected cases of Lassa fever, with only five found to be positive.

He stated that the four people who died were among the five patients who tested positive with the desease.

He added that most of the cases came from six local government areas of Bali, Gashaka, Gassol, Ardo-Kola, Jalingo and Ibi.

According to the commissioner, the state government had activated its surveillance system for more case detection and proper treatment.

He noted that efforts were ongoing to create awareness for residents of the state to enlighten them about the symptoms of the disease.

The commissioner regretted that challenges such as late reporting of patients to hospitals and difficult terrains of the state have remained major banes to the management of the disease in Taraba.

He revealed that the Federal Ministry of Health had promised to provide testing machines and distribute regionally with Taraba, as the test place for the North-East.

He said the state government may acquire its set of equipment to reduce waiting time between suspicion and confirmation

Meanwhile, the Management of Federal Medical Centre, Jalingo has confirmed that a Medical Doctor who is an in house officer has tested positive to Lassa Fever in the state.

Acting Head, Clinical Service of the Hospital, Dr Ahmed Jatau disclosed this to our correspondent on Tuesday.

He noted that the affected medical doctor is currently undergoing treatment at Iruwa specialist hospital, Edo State.

“We have sent 10 samples to NCDC, which 6 of them tested positive to Lassa Fever.

“Out of the six confirmed cases, four have died before their result came in.

“Out of the remaining two, one has been discharged, while the other who is our own staff has been transferred to Iruwa specialist hospital for further treatment because we don’t have a dialysis unit here.

“The information from the specialist hospital is that he is doing well after the first dialysis session.

“We have also fumigated the house officers’ quarters against rodents.”