The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control has said that the death toll of Lassa fever in the country has risen to 159 between January and June 2022.

This came as the NCDC said that 53 Nigerian health workers had been infected with the dreaded disease.

The nation’s disease control agency disclosed this on Monday, in its latest Lassa fever situation report.

According to the report published on its website, the country has 820 confirmed cases and 5,380 suspected cases of the disease.

The report’s highlights revealed that the number of new confirmed cases increased from eight in week 24 to 10 cases in week 25.

Cumulatively from week 1 to week 25, 2022, 159 deaths have been reported with a case fatality rate of 19.4% which is lower than the CFR for the same period in 2021 (20.8%).

In total for 2022, 24 states have recorded at least one confirmed case across 98 Local Government Areas.

Of all confirmed cases, 68% are from Ondo (29%), Edo (25%), and Bauchi (14%) states.

The predominant age-group affected is 21-30 years (Range: 1 to 90 years, Median Age: 30 years). The male-to-female ratio for confirmed cases is 1:0.8.

The number of suspected cases has increased compared to that reported for the same period in 2021.

One new healthcare worker affected in the reporting week 25 from Ondo state.

National Lassa fever multi-partner, multi-sectoral Technical Working Group continues to coordinate the response activities at all levels,

the NCDC noted.

Lassa fever is a viral haemorrhagic fever and an acute viral illness.

The disease has a high morbidity and mortality rate, as well as economic and health security implications.

Justin Nwosu

Justin Nwosu is the founder and publisher of Flavision. His core interest is in writing unbiased news about Nigeria in particular and Africa in general. He’s a strong adherent of investigative journalism, with a bent on exposing corruption, abuse of power and societal ills.