BREAKING: Kaduna Confirms Five Deaths From Lassa Fever

BREAKING: Kaduna Confirms Five Deaths From Lassa Fever

Five deaths have been confirmed by the Kaduna State Government due to the Lassa fever outbreak in the state.

The confirmation was part of a report on the disease outbreak provided to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) by the state’s Commissioner for Health, Hajiya Umma Ahmed, yesterday.

Initially, six samples were collected to verify the outbreak, followed by another six samples from contacts for analysis at Bayero University, Kano.

The turnaround time for the results was 24-28 hours.

The index case was a 26-year-old Youth Corps member who fell ill on February 9, sought treatment at the 44 Army Reference Hospital in Kaduna, and unfortunately passed away on February 20.

“Symptoms presented included fever, headache, convulsion and bleeding. Thereafter, a total of 32 suspected cases were line-listed and samples collected. Six cases were confirmed positive, with five deaths and a male-female ratio of 1:1.

“The result also showed five were negative, while 21 results are being awaited.”

Ninety-nine contacts have been line-listed and are under monitoring, with an additional 19 individuals showing symptoms, and their samples have been taken for testing.

The state government has implemented measures to address the outbreak.