An emergency response center has been set up in Nigeria to contain an outbreak of Lassa fever cases, which has claimed 26 lives in three weeks, the national disease control agency said.
Read alsoLassa fever, a silent and deadly endemic
Endemic to Nigeria, Lassa hemorrhagic fever belongs to the same family as the Ebola and Marburg viruses, but is much less violent.
Each year, the number of cases usually spikes towards the beginning of the year during the dry season.
To contain this new epidemic peak, the Nigerian Center for Disease Control (NCDC) said on Wednesday January 26 that it had “
activated the National Emergency Operations Center (EOC)
”.
"
As of January 23, 2022, a total of 115 confirmed cases (of Lassa fever) with 26 deaths - a case fatality ratio of 22.6% - have been reported
" from 11 states nationwide, the NCDC said.
Lassa fever is transmitted through rodent excretions or direct contact with blood, urine, stool or other body fluids of a sick person.
Once declared, this fever can cause bleeding in the most severe cases (about one in five cases).
According to NCDC data, 102 people succumbed to this fever last year in Nigeria, the most populous nation in Africa with some 210 million inhabitants.
The virus takes its name from the town of Lassa in the north of the country, where it was first identified in 1969.
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