Lassa Fever, a highly communicable disease, is an acute viral haemorrhagic illness caused by the Lassa virus, a member of the arenavirus family of viruses. Humans get infected by this deadly virus through the exposure to urine and feces of infected Mastomys rats.
When humans are infected with this virus, they show various symptoms such as fever, tiredness, fatigue, cough, sore throat and headache. But in more serious cases, they show severe symptoms such as chest, neck or stomach pain, difficulty breathing, severe vomiting or diarrhea, bleeding from the mouth, nose, eyes or other mucous membranes, seizures and confusion.
Over the past few years in Nigeria, the government has been warning the general public about the dangers of Lassa Fever and to immediately report suspected cases to the hospitals as the case of Lassa Fever keeps increasing in the country. Such is the situation going on presently in Ebonyi State.
On Wednesday, the Ebonyi State Ministry of health made it known that Lassa Fever has killed 14 people in the state, since January till date. This information was made known by The Director of Public Health in the ministry, Dr Hyacinth Ebenyi during an interview carried out in Abakaliki on Wednesday.
Dr Hyacinth Ebenyi said, “Yes, there has been an increase in the cases of Lassa fever. The disease is really endemic in the state.
“It did not just start; it has been here, most times, during the dry season.
“So far, we have had suspected cases of 110, and out of this figure, we recorded 29 confirmed cases.
“Out of 29 cases, as of Tuesday, we lost 14 persons.”
He however urged the people of Ebonyi State to remain calm and not panic as the government has everything under control. All they had to do is to just keep a clean environment and stay away from rat fluids.
He further said, “Lassa fever is a killer-disease. People should stop eating rats. Do not allow it to have any contact with your food.
Talking about the symptoms of Lassa Fever, he said ” These signs progress within a short time, and if nothing is done, the affected person will start to bleed from the body openings until it affects the important organs of the body, and next will be death.
“Affected persons should go to hospital for treatment immediately.”