Lassa fever has killed 16 persons, including two doctors, in Bauchi State, the National Centre for Disease Control [NCDC] has said.

Dr. Suleiman Lawal, the NCDC’s Surveillance Outbreak Response Management Analysis System and Support Officer in Bauchi, disclosed this at the Lassa fever camp at the Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University Teaching Hospital on Tuesday.

He said that the 16 deaths were recorded out of the 43 confirmed cases recorded in the state since January, 2020.

He said:

“Bauchi state has recorded 43 confirmed cases of lassa fever but two out of this number were brought in from Plateau State. Among these confirmed cases, 16 deaths has been recorded this year.

“There are also three people that have died of probable cases. They are called ‘probable cases’ because we couldn’t take their samples before they died.”

Lawal disclosed that a total of seven health workers including six doctors were infected with the Lassa fever disease leading to the death of two doctors.

He said that one of the doctors, a pregnant woman, was treated for 10 days and discharged while four others were currently being quarantined.

“Totally, we have seven health workers that were affected. One of the doctors who was pregnant and had the disease, we managed her and discharged her. Four others are currently on admission, we’ve been managing them. They are now stable, in fact, we will discharge two of them tomorrow (Wednesday) because they have finished their 10 day treatment period.

” Two doctors died, one was a doctor that died here (at the ATBUTH) while the other one died in a private clinic here in Bauchi.

“Most of the deaths are as a result of late reporting and that is not our fault, something will happen and people will not report on time so we are appealing to people to always come on time,” he advised.

Dr. Lawal, who is also the Bauchi State Surveillance Support Officer, said that the state has received assistance from the World Health Organisation [WHO] and the United Nations Children Endowment Fund (UNICEF) in its efforts aimed at reducing the scourge of the disease to the barest minimum.

He called on people of goodwill to also support in the fight against lassa fever.

He listed seven pillars that will help in managing the epidemic which he said are: education, communication, risk communication and surveillance.

Others, he added, are case management, laboratory confirmation and prevention and control.

Lawal said communication is a key pillar in managing the epidemic because, according to him, “if people get the correct information, they will know how protect themselves and this will help in breaking this chain and reducing the spread. Sometimes people feel it has spiritual undertones, but if you give them the correct information, they will know exactly what it is, so communication is a very key pillar in controlling outbreak responses.

“You know when you have one case and you allow it, it will spread but once you are able to contain it, then you will limit the spread and it will die naturally.”