Lassa Fever Outbreak Declared In Eight States

The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control has declared an outbreak of Lassa fever in eight states. The Director-General of the NCDC, Dr Chikwe Ihekweazu, in a statement said there had been an increase in the number of Lassa fever cases reported across the country since the beginning of the year.

“As of January 13, 2019, a total of 60 confirmed cases have been reported in Edo, Ondo, Bauchi, FCT, Ebonyi, Nasarawa, Plateau and Taraba states. Given this increase in reported cases of Lassa fever, the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control has declared this an outbreak and activated an Emergency Operations Centre to coordinate the response,” Ihekweazu said.