Lassa Fever: No outbreak yet in Anambra- NAUTH

NNEWI—THE management of the Nnamdi Azikiwe University Teaching Hospital, NAUTH, Nnewi, Anambra State, has introduced measures aimed at combating the spread of Lassa fever, if noticed in any part of the state. The Chief Medical Director, CMD of NAUTH, Prof. Anthony Igwegbe made this known during a Sensitization Seminar organized by the hospital to educate workers in the institution on the disease and how to tackle it, if noticed.


 Igwegbe, however, assured the people and Nnewi community in particular that there was no need to panic as, the hospital had set the machinery in motion in conjunction with the Federal Ministry of Health to ensure that the disease was combated, if eventually noticed in the state, even as there was no reported, known or confirmed case of Lassa fever in Anambra State. “Once the case is reported in the state, it is the Federal Minister of Health that will do the announcement.

This was the instruction given to us in our National Council of Health meeting held in Abuja. “In as much as the disease is not anywhere in the state, people should ensure that they keep their environments clean and avoid any form of contact with rodents especially, rats, even though it is only a particular rat that carries the virus,”he said.

“Right now, we have no confirmed case; we had two suspected cases of paediatrics patents having fever, vomiting, abdominal pains, and because of that, the paediatricians’ suspected Lassa fever. We took their samples to Irrua Specialist Hospital in Edo State, which is the centre designated many years ago for the diagnosis and treatment of the disease, and the result came back negative and we have been managing the kids since then,” he said.

He said that some of the measures taken to tackle the disease included health education, sensitization workshop, educating the staff to continue with our universal precautionary measures, which is, hand washing, proper disposal of refuse after treating each patient and wearing personal protective equipment, when there were suspected cases. “We have an isolation ward.

 We designated a place during the Ebola Virus crisis, where we used as an isolation centre, and fortunately, we did not have any Ebola case, and the place is still there. So when we have any case of Lassa fever, we isolate the patients, but now we don’t have any case, the place is ready,” he said. He said “Infection Control Committee, and Emergency and Preparedness Committee had been in existence over the years in the hospital, and now Lassa fever is in the country, they have been encouraged, empowered and charged to go to work, if eventually the disease comes into the state.

“Lassa fever is a zoonosis disease of rat that occasionally affects man, when a rat that has the disease excretes or get in contact with what human beings eat, and we eventually eat them uncooked or get them through contamination or inhale them, they get infected. An infected person can infect another person through contact, blood, or inhalation. “People who are closed to the patients especially, health workers are prone to contacting it, when not suspecting it. They normally get it through blood sample spill or through mucus membrane the virus gets into them” he said.

 He said the Federal Government is making realistic effort towards eradicating the disease in the country through re-energizing, reequipping and establishing more Primary Health Care Centres, educating the public, making early diagnosis and creating more diagnostic centres, as announced in the National Council of Health meeting in Abuja. Twelve centres will be established in the country for diagnosis and treatment, six has already been in existence and the remaining six are being worked on, this is to ensure that when you have more diagnosis centres it will be easy and fast to conduct tests, because you take the samples to the nearest centre.

 He warned those who expose their food substances to the sun with rats moving around them, to be careful, because a contaminated rat can contaminate their food substances. In a paper entitled “Management of Lassa fever cases in the Hospital Setting,” delivered by Dr Abejegah Chukwuyem, a Senior Registrar, Department of Community Medicine, Irrua Specialist Teaching Hospital, Edo State, he said “it is important to pass the message of the outbreak of Lassa fever to the hospital communities in the country, and prevention of the disease is very necessary to prevent workers and the patients that seek medical services from the hospitals from being infected.”

 He said that the spread of the disease was not escalating like the way Ebola Virus Disease did, because of the wonderful work being done by the Nigerian media, which started informing the people about its presence and the precautionary measures they should take to avoid being infected. “The present outbreak gained media coverage… we have had worst outbreak than this, in 2013 and 2015.

The peak of the outbreak was in February, but now we are just having preparations and measures are being put in place to combat it. “As a matter of fact, it is declining, apart from areas that horded information about the presence of the disease when it was noticed in the northern states, we will say it is under control. For example, with Ribavirin which is the drug used in combating it now in abundance with the help of Federal Government, it is being controlled.

Source: Vanguard