Nigeria’s Lassa fever death toll rises to 188 — amid coronavirus pandemic

The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) says the death toll from Lassa fever in the country has risen to 188.

In its latest situation report, the agency said three more patients had died of Lassa fever as of Sunday, while 12 more persons had been infected.

The total number of infected persons now stands at 963. The NCDC said the new cases were recorded across Edo, Ondo, Ebonyi, Bauchi and Sokoto.

Highlights from the report are:

• Cumulatively from week 1 to week 14, 2020, 188 deaths have been reported with a case
  fatality rate (CFR) of 19.5% which is lower than the CFR for the same period in 2019
  (22.7%).
• In total for 2020, 27 States have recorded at least one confirmed case across 126 Local
  Government Areas (Figure 2 and 3).
• Of all confirmed cases, 72% are from Edo (32%), Ondo (32%) and Ebonyi (8%) states.
• The predominant age-group affected is 21-30 years (Range: <1 to 78 years, Median
  Age: 33 years).
• The male to female ratio for confirmed cases is 1:1.2.
• The number of suspected cases has significantly increased compared to that reported
  for the same period in 2019.
• No new healthcare worker was affected in the reporting week 14.

Meanwhile, Nigeria continues to battle the coronavirus pandemic which has so far claimed six lives with 276 persons infected.

However, 44 of those infected have recovered.

Photo credit: The Interview