Lassa fever kills 5 Almajiris, 1 Qur’anic teacher in Gombe
Story from Najibullahi ADAMU, Gombe
Not fewer than five Almajiri school pupils and their qur’anic teacher died in Gombe State following the fresh outbreak of Lassa fever.
Kaltungo local government Primary Health Care coordinator, Comfort Danlami, disclosed this yesterday during an advocacy visit by a team of the Gombe State Contributory Healthcare Management Agency to the Palace of Mai Kaltungo Saleh Muhammed.
She uncovered that the five Almajiris who lived in Kaltungo local government area of the state contracted the disease first and later infected their qur’anic teacher that took care of them.
According to her, the outbreak occurred at an Almajiri school in Dogon Ruwa ward of the local government.
She explained that the Almajiris recently fell sick and were taken to a hospital where they were confirmed to have Lassa fever.
“At first, they were suspected to be suffering from meningitis, but after taking their samples for diagnosis, they were confirmed to suffer from Lassa fever.
“The five suspected cases died instantly while their teacher who was catering for them later fell ill after their death on Sunday and it was confirmed he had Lassa fever too. He died later that same day. That makes the number of deaths six”. She revealed.
Against the development, the primary health care coordinator stated that the team has embarked on sensitization in the community, while the team of state epidemiologists has embarked on tracing suspected cases and those who came in contact with the confirmed cases in Dogon Ruwa community and its environs.
Comfort noted that so far, 76 samples of suspected cases have been collected for examination adding that already, an isolation centre has been established to cater for the confirmed and suspected victims of the disease in the local government.
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