Health minister Prof. Isaac Adewole yesterday announced that the outbreak of Lassa fever has spread to 15 states, recording 31 deaths.
He added that there had been 105 laboratory confirmed cases and three probable cases.
The minister told the Emergency National Council of Health in Abuja yesterday that cases were recorded in Bauchi, Plateau, Taraba, Nasarawa, Benue, Kogi, Ebonyi, Rivers, Imo, Anambra, Edo, Delta, Ondo, Osun and Lagos states.
The minister added that 10 health care workers were affected in four states (seven in Ebonyi and with one each in Nasarawa, Kogi and Benue states),The Nation reports.
Prof Adewole said four health workers died (three in Ebonyi and one in Kogi.)
He said the meeting was summoned to discuss the state of public health challenges in Nigeria with a focus on some of the challenges that bedeviled the nation in the past few weeks.
Adewole added that Lassa fever had been a recurrent outbreak in the country, stressing that Nigeria had battled with a series of outbreaks in the past few months.
According to the minister, Nigeria dealt with Ebola in 2014; the country reacted strongly and the response was acknowledged by the international community.
He said:
“The success against Ebola created a situation whereby every other public health challenge in Nigeria to be a tea party.
“Therefore assume that Lassa fever and other challenges would be likened to malaria, that they were not serious.’’
Emeh Achanga,the CEO of the Miss Petite Nigeria Brand is a lawyer turned blogger. She is very passionate about writing, with several publications and awards to her credit .She is currently working on publishing a collection of short stories which are basically a memoir about her exciting true experiences.
