Over 390 under surveillance over Lassa fever fears in southwest Nigeria

Health authority had placed 396 people under surveillance following the death of a nursing officer reported to have died of Lassa fever in southwest Nigeria's Ogun State, an official said Saturday.

The people under surveillance had primary and secondary contacts with the late nurse, Babatunde Ipaye, the Ogun State commissioner for Health said in a statement made available to Xinhua.

Abolanle Adewuyi, an Assistant Chief Nursing Officer of the Federal Medical Center in the state capital, died on Monday night at the hospital.

The primary contacts were mainly members of the victim's family, while the secondary contacts are the co-workers in the hospital, especially those in the same unit as the deceased, the health official added.

According to him, none of the contacts had shown abnormal temperature since they have been on monitoring schedule.

He said the medical officers attached to each of the contacts would continue to monitor until the expiration of the specified period in line with the World Health Organization (WHO) standard.

He said this period had to be exceeded before they could be medically adjudged to be free of the disease.

The commissioner urged members of the public not to panic, just as he assured that government is on top of the situation.

He advised the people to cultivate high level of hygiene and keep their food away from rats.

Ipaye also advised members of the public to report any case of malaria symptoms that may have exceeded three days to the nearest General Hospital.

Lassa fever is a zoonotic virus, transmitted when a human comes into contact with an infected rat's feces, urine, or the bodily fluids of an infected human.

It was first described in 1969 in the town of Lassa located in Nigeria's northeastern state of Borno. In some cases, Lassa fever has similar symptoms with malaria.

source: Xinhua