No case of any suspected Lassa fever in Kwara – KWSG

The Kwara State Government has declared that there is no case of any suspected Lassa fever in the state.

According to the government , this is based on the statistics and reports reaching the state from health workers across the sixteen local government areas of the state.

The Acting Deputy Director, Department of Public Health in the State Ministry of Health, Doctor Habib Abayomi Lawal disclosed this in Ilorin , the state capital while answering questions on a Radio Kwara programme tagged “Health Half Hour”.

Doctor Lawal who is also a Senior Registrar, in the Department of Epidemiology and Community Health at the University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital (UITH) noted that since some states that share borders with Kwara such as Kogi had recorded a causality who is a medical doctor, the advent of the virus in the state is imminent.

He therefore pleaded specifically with medical practitioners to ensure intervention prevention and control measures strictly in hospitals warning that the two categories of people that are at very high risk of contacting the disease are health workers and patients as well as those living in the rural areas.

The medical practitioner explained that Lassa fever is an acute viral hemorrhagic illness while the virus is transmitted to humans via contacts with food or household items contaminated with rodent urine or feces of an infected multimammate rat.

Doctor Lawal added that many of those infected by the virus do not develop symptoms but said when symptoms occur, they typically include fever, weakness, headaches, vomiting and muscle pain and therefore appealed to any person with such symptoms to report the the nearest hospital for prober checkup.

According to him , the state government and the management of the state ministry of Health have reactivated the state Emergency Response Team that is working in conjunction with the National Center for Disease Control in Abuja on sensitizing the populace through mass awareness campaign while the surveillance allocation offices at the various local government areas are now on standby in case of any suspected outbreak.

He appealed to Kwarans to keep a very clean environment and clear bushes around their surroundings stressing that relevant agencies and ministries in the state have been involved in the awareness campaign to guide against contacting the disease.

Speaking in the same vein with VON , a Senior Registrar in the Department of Medical Microbiology and Parasitology with the UITH, Doctor Imran Jibril disclosed that proactive measures is being taken to ensure that the outbreak did not spread to the state and adding that medical practitioners are on alert in case of any eventuality.

Since the outbreak of Lassa fever in less than eighteen states across the country in December last year , the disease has claimed the life’s of over sixteen people including five medical doctors from sixty one confirmed cases. States with reported cases of Lassa Fever include , Bauchi, Plateau, Ebonyi , Ondo, Edo, Nasarawa , Rivers, Kogi, Benue, Bauchi , Anambra Lagos and Imo.