Lassa Fever: Health Commissioner warns against outbreak in Cross River
By Eme Offiong, Calabar
Residents of Cross River State in southern Nigeria have been urged to prioritise hygiene and sanitation due to a reported case of Lassa fever outbreak resulting to one death.
The Commissioner for Health, Dr. Egbe Ayuk, who gave the warning in Calabar, the state capital, said that the Lassa fever was reported at Obubra local government area, central Cross River district.
Ayuk explained that the ministry with the collaboration of other agencies conducted its investigations and reported, said “details of the deceased case – a resident of Ejah Community of Osupong Ward 1, Obubra LGA got from Federal University Teaching Hospital Abakaliki, Ebony State, has been confirmed positive for Lassa Fever.
“We have consequently activated the Cross River State Emergency Operation Center. The State Rapid Response Team has been despatched to Obubra alongside the local government area team for contact tracing and line listing, decontamination of affected premises, awareness creation and risk communication.”
He further noted that the teams would also ensure, “mobilization of Lassa fever commodities, consumables and personal protective equipment to General Hospital Obubra and other locations.”
Take protective measures
Meanwhile, the management of the University of Calabar Teaching Hospital has urged all its medical personnel to be on the lookout for suspected cases as part of measures to contain the spread of the infection, which was confirmed through standard laboratory testing.
The management insisted, “medical doctors, nurses, other health care providers, and indeed the hospital community is hereby notified to be on the look-out for suspected cases. We should be suspicious when we see any case of abnormal bleeding, dysfunctional uterine bleeding, epistasis, fever, malaise, muscle aches, etc.”
The management further reminded its personnel to observe “universal prevention protocol” when attending to all patients and avoid patients’ secretions by wearing protective clothing such as masks, gloves, gown and googles.
In a related development, the Ministry of Health has urged the public to avoid contacts with people, imbibe hygiene practices such as washing of hands under running water, avoid crowded places and clean their environment in addition to ensuring their foods such as bean, garri, rice, yam, plantain, bread and others are properly stored away from rodents.
The ministry further advised people to wash fruits and vegetables properly before eating as well as cook their food properly and ensure canned drinks, food or edibles are cleaned or washed before consumption to avoid contracting the infection or any other disease.
