Story By: Alex Cope, Sub Editor: Joseph Golder, Agency: Newsflash

As the coronavirus pandemic sweeps the world an outbreak of the deadly Lassa virus has hit Nigeria killing 144 people.

The country’s Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) has warned that the outbreak of disease has a Case Fatality Rate of 16.8 percent and has hit 27 of the country’s 36 states.

This compares with a death rate of around four percent for the Coronavirus.

The Lassa virus is spread to humans through food and household items which have been contaminated with rodent faces or urine.

NCDC Director-General Dr Chikwe Ihekweazu said that the virus can be spread from human-to-human through bodily fluids such as semen, urine, and blood.

He said that 855 confirmed cases of the virus have been confirmed in the 2020 outbreak, with 81 new cases confirmed in week 10 of the disease, down from 85 new cases in week 9.

Ihekweazu warned that the number of suspected cases of the virus, which appears regularly in Nigeria, had increased significantly in comparison to the same period last year.

The NCDC have therefore rapidly increased their levels of preparation to respond to the outbreak, with increased training for health workers and logistics improved to ensure medical supplies.

However, the Nigeria Medical Association and National Association of Resident Doctors have called on the government to help protect health workers from the virus as 29 workers have been confirmed to be suffering from it.

Lagos State Government has announced it will begin eight weeks of rat extermination and fumigation of 27 colleges, as well as in markets and slaughterhouses to protect against Lassa fever.

Outbreaks of the disease typically peak in Nigeria’s dry season from November to May.

General symptoms include headache, fever, sore throat, general body weakness, coughing, nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea, muscle pains, chest pain.

Patients with severe cases can suffer from unexplained bleeding from the ears, eyes, nose, mouth, vagina, anus and other body orifices.

Nigeria has so far only suffered two confirmed cases of COVID-19 with no deaths.

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