The scourge of Lassa Fever has hit Plateau state with an increase in the number of infected patients while the state government in collaboration with the Federal Government is working hand in hand to ameliorate the epidemic.
The Plateau State Commissioner for Health, Dr. Kuden Kamshak, has said that five cases of Lassa fever have been detected in Jos, the state capital, according to the Punch.
He said that the patients were responding to treatment. Kamshak said, “So far, we have only five cases and they are responding to treatment. We have advised doctors not to keep patients for so long in the hospital to avoid contact and spread.”
The commissioner, who spoke in Jos on Thursday, said that Plateau State had been identified as one of the hotbed of the ailment due to its proximity to most of the Lassa fever endemic states, hence, the need for citizens to maintain a clean and healthy environment.
He added that health officers had been sent to rural communities to sensitise them on the dangers of the disease and the symptoms to look out for. Following the death of a resident doctor at the Maxilofacial Surgery Department at the Obafemi Awolowo University Teaching Hospital Complex, Ile Ife, the Osun State government has also placed 55 persons under surveillance.
The Permanent Secretary, Osun State Ministry of Health, Dr. Temitope Oladele, while briefing journalists in his office on Thursday said that the state had created emergency centres to ensure that the disease was contained.
Oladele said the preliminary report of the test carried out on the blood sample of the doctor “came back as compatible with Lassa virus.”
He, however, said the confirmatory test could not be done following his death but he added that the state had gone ahead to prepare to contain the virus.