Lassa Fever: 4 die, 14 in isolation centre in Benue
Fourteen patients who have been diagnosed with Lassa Fever are responding to treatment at the Benue State University Teaching Hospital (BSUTH), Makurdi Isolation Centre, even as the state government said four persons had already lost their lives to the disease.
This is even as the Commissioner for Health and Human Services, Dr Joseph Ngbea, informed that campaigns and awareness creations are currently going on to discourage residents from spreading foodstuffs by the roadside and places where rodents could easily perch and defecate on them.
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Dr Ngbea who disclosed this in an interview with journalists explained that so far the state has lost four persons to the disease.
According to him, “I want to appreciate Governor Samuel Ortom for releasing N5 million as Lassa Fever emergency funds which have helped in the supply of drugs at the Benue State University Teaching Hospital (BSUTH) and the Federal Medical Centre Makurdi among other emergency needs at the isolation centres especially that of BSUTH.
The Commissioner decried the lack of dialysis machines to take care of Lassa fever patients in the state, stressing that the lack of the machines was causing more death to most patients sent from the state to Iruwa for treatment.
While informing that there is a species of rat that is a vector, not the normal rat that is being consumed, Dr Ngbea advised that to be on the safe side.
“Citizens should desist from eating rats, the way people are dying from Lassa Fever, we are beginning to wonder whether the normal rat we eat is also a vector. So, it is better to be on the safe side so that we will not have the disease as an epidemic in the state.
“Because we do not have dialysis machines here in the state, we usually send our patients to Iruwa especially those who have complications and most of them die on their way to the hospital because the journey is a 12 hours drive and for somebody who is very sick to be subjected to that kind of added stress, it will be difficult for the patient to survive.
“So, based on this, we have decided to go to the hinterland for contact tracing and surveillance.
“We have also tested a lot of people and that is where we got the 14 positive patients that are currently on treatment, they are responding positively.
“Over 120 persons have been tested, through contact tracing out of which 14 were positive, so instead of allowing citizens to come down with Lassa Fever, we have resorted to going from house to house to create awareness.
“Through contact tracing, we have also enacted what is called Incidence Action Plan and this entailed that we need to test the whole household and vicinity, we also ask a question to ascertain if they are into practices that will attract rodents in their households.
“We have presented a case for Lassa Fever in our last meeting of COVID-19 and the fumigation team were directed to go and Fumigate the surrounding of those tested positive to stop rodents from coming into their homes to perch on their food,” the commissioner said.
“I have also directed the management of BSUTH to bring a proposal for the purchase of dialysis machines for onward presentation to the Governor for approval because we can’t afford to be losing patients because of the machines, we need these machines because one of the complications of Lassa fever is that it completely shut down your kidneys”.
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