Tony John, Port Harcourt
Two people have been confirmed dead of Lassa Fever in Rivers State.
Daily Sun gathered that one of the victims died on Sunday, while the second person passed on last Monday.
Both of them, according to a reliable source from the state Ministry of Health, have since been buried.
The Director, Planning and Statistics, State Ministry of Health, Dr Chinwe Atata, who spoke on the development, said the Public Health Emergency Operation Centre have since made efforts towards containing the outbreak of the disease.
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Atata disclosed that health experts have also been carrying out decontamination of facilities, presumptive prophylaxis and surveillance to ensure public health safety.
She explained: “There was a case. It happened in the night and the person passed away. The sample was sent to Irua and that is one of the positive cases.
“Two samples were sent from here and one sample was the Irua case, which was positive and they are all late.
“But there is no spread as of now. The 57 persons are still under surveillance; they are going through the routine procedure and decontamination of the facilities has been done.
“The families of the late persons are also under surveillance. The drugs are available and we have a lot of them that have been procured by the Rivers State Government.
“We also have some that were also sent from the University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital. We have a holding centre being prepared.
“You will recall that few days ago, I briefed you on a number of suspected cases that were being investigated in the state. We have received preliminary confirmation that three (3) of the samples tested positive to Lassa virus.
“The Rivers State Public Health Emergency Operation Centre (EOC) had earlier commenced pro-active effort for containment of the outbreak. So far, all hands are on deck for facility decontamination, line-listing, presumptive prophylaxis and surveillance to ensure Public health safety and security,”, she stated.
Atata, however, assured the people of Rivers that they should not panic, adding that there were experts on ground to contain the disease.
“There is, therefore, no cause for alarm as all cases are being managed with expertise according to the standard protocol for containment.
“We will update you regularly on further development if any. I will continue to reiterate that in view of the prevailing upsurge of Lassa fever cases in the country, all health service centres have been advised to maintain simple triage system for all patients and uphold standard infection prevention principles required for service delivery.
“The public is further advised to continue all necessary preventive measures under the circumstances,” he advised.