Within a span of one week, the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, NCDC, has confirmed one death and 15 new cases of Lassa fever nationwide.
Published on Friday, the Week 13 situation report revealed this data.
The number of confirmed cases dropped from 25 in Week 12 to 15 cases in the recent reporting period.
From the first to the thirteenth week, the country documented 806 confirmed cases and 150 deaths, leading to a case fatality rate (CFR) of 18.6%, which is higher than the CFR during the same period in 2023 (17.5%).
According to the report, 25 states have reported at least one confirmed case in 125 local government areas in 2024.
The report highlighted, “Ondo, Edo, and Bauchi accounted for 62% of all confirmed cases, with Ondo State representing 24%, Edo 22%, and Bauchi 16%.”
No healthcare worker contracted the infection within the reporting period.
Individuals aged 31 to 40 were predominantly affected by the infection.
The report noted that the National Lassa Fever Multi-partner, Multi-sectoral Incident Management System had been activated to coordinate responses across all levels at the Emergency Operations Centre.
Among the challenges in the battle against Lassa fever mentioned by the NCDC were delayed case presentation, which led to increased CFR, and poor health-seeking behavior.