The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, NCDC, has confirmed that Lassa fever led to the death of 150 persons between January and March 2024, in 125 local government areas in 27 states of the federation.
Cumulatively from week one to week 13, 2024, NCDC said the deaths were reported with a case fatality rate (CFR) of 18.6 percent, which is higher than the CFR for the same period in 2023 (17.5 percent).
Disclosing this in its Lassa Fever Situation Report Epi Week 13, March, 25–31, 2024, the agency said out of a total of 5,295 suspected cases reported, 806 were confirmed.
According to the report, in week 13, the number of new confirmed cases decreased from 25 in Epi week 12, 2024 to 15. These cases were reported in Ondo, Bauchi, Plateau and Edo states.
In total for 2024, 27 states have recorded at least one confirmed case across 125 LGAs, even as 62 percent of all confirmed Lassa fever cases were reported from Ondo, Edo, and Bauchi states, while 38 percent of cases were reported from 24 states with confirmed Lassa fever cases.
Of the 62 percent confirmed cases, the NCDC said Ondo reported 24 percent, Edo 22 percent, and Bauchi 16 percent. The predominant age group affected is 31-40 years (Range: 1 to 98 years, Median Age: 32years), with a male-to-female ratio for confirmed cases of 1:1.
From the report, the number of suspected cases (5,295) increased compared to that reported for the same period in 2023 (4,338).
The agency confirmed that the National Lassa fever multi-partner, multi-sectoral Incident Management System has been activated to coordinate response at all levels at the Emergency Operations Centre, EOC.
No new healthcare worker was affected in the reporting week 13, the report noted.