Lassa
fever, also known as Lassa hemorrhagic fever (LHF) has hit Abeokuta,
Ogun state capital, allegedly killing a nurse and a young man whose
identities were not known as of the time of filing this report.
Majeksteve Blog reliably gathered that two others who were a doctor and a nurse
were reportedly being attended to in the intensive care unit of Federal
Medical Centre, Idi-Aba, Abeokuta.
According to the findings by Majeksteve Blog , the nurse and the young man were working at a morgue in Abeokuta.
When
contacted, the Ministry of Health in Ogun state confirmed the incident,
saying, the victims would be transferred to one of the isolation
centres in the state.
The
s on phone that the commissioner has
confirmed the incident and has begun process to transfer the victims to
the state-owned isolation centre.
Lassa fever is a type of viral hemorrhagic fever caused by the Lassa virus.
Many
of those infected by the virus do not develop symptoms. When symptoms
occur
they typically include fever, weakness, headaches, vomiting, and
muscle pains.
Less
commonly there may be bleeding from the mouth or gastrointestinal
tract. The risk of death once infected is about one percent and
frequently occurs within two weeks of the onset of symptoms.
Among those who survive about a quarter have deafness which improves over time in about half.
The
disease is usually initially spread to people via contact with the
urine or feces of an infected multimammate rat. Spread can occur via
direct contact between people.
Diagnosis
based on symptoms is difficult. Confirmation is by laboratory testing
to detect the viruses RNA, antibodies to the virus, or the virus itself
in cell culture.
Other conditions that may present similarly include Ebola fever, malaria, typhoid fever, and yellow fever.
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