At the least18 states across the Federation recorded not less than one confirmed case of Lassa fever out of a total of  241 recorded cases with 82 deaths since the onset of the latest Lassa fever outbreak.


The affected states include Ogun, Bauchi, Plateau, Ebonyi, Ondo, Edo, Taraba, Nasarawa and Rivers. Others are Kaduna, Gombe, Cross-River, Borno, Kano, Kogi, Enugu, Anambra and Lagos. Disclosing this in an update of the Lassa fever outbreak in the country for Week 33 (August 12-17, 2017), the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control, NCDC, said out of the 241 recorded cases, 227 are classified as confirmed while 14 are probable, with 82 deaths (67 confirmed and 14 probable) recorded.

According to the NCDC, as at week 32 (August 5-11, 2017), the outbreak was active in Ondo, Edo, Plateau, Bauchi, Lagos and Ogun.) “Ogun State reported a new confirmed case this week. This brings the state back to the active outbreak category.

Contact tracing has commenced in the state. “Since the onset of Lassa fever outbreak in Dec. 2016 (Week 49), a total of 241 cases have been classified as: confirmed (227) and probable (14), with 82 deaths (67 deaths in confirmed and 14 in probable) recorded. “

Case Fatality Rate in confirmed and probable cases is 34 per cent and 16.1 per cent for all cases (including probable, confirmed and suspected).

“In the reporting Week 32 (August 5-11, 2017), 11 new suspected cases were reported in Ondo (1), Bauchi (1), Plateau (2) and Lagos (7) states.

“Five of the seven suspected cases reported in Lagos state had lab testing done and all results came out negative. 10 new confirmed cases were reported from Ondo (1), Edo (2), Plateau (2), Ogun (1) and Lagos (4) states.

“One death was recorded for a confirmed case reported in Lagos state. Two of the pending results from Bauchi came back negative. There are six pending results from Plateau (2), Ondo (1), Bauchi (1) and Lagos (2) states,” the NCDC noted. M

eanwhile the Ogun State government has discharged the 20-year-old Lassa fever patient that has been in isolation at the Federal Medical Centre, Abeokuta for 21 days.