Death toll in the current Lassa fever outbreak in Nigeria has risen to 57, the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control said on Friday. A situation report released by the health agency said 275 cases of Lassa fever have been confirmed in 19 states as of February 3.

The situation report is a weekly update of the trend in the Lassa fever disease across the country and the latest release covered week five: January 28 to February 03, 2019. Lassa fever is a hemorrhagic disease caused by rodents. The disease is transmitted through faeces and urine of rats. Lassa fever is treatable if diagnosed early and as such Nigerians are advised to visit health facilities when sick.

According to the NCDC report, since the beginning of the year, 19 states – Edo, Ondo, Bauchi, Nasarawa, Ebonyi, Plateau, Taraba, FCT, Adamawa, Gombe, Kaduna, Kwara, Benue, Rivers, Kogi, Enugu, Imo, Delta and Oyo – have recorded at least one confirmed case across 51 local government areas. With this spread, the health agency had to declare an outbreak of Lassa fever in mid-January. In the latest situation report, 68 new confirmed cases were reported from Edo -20, Ondo -22, Ebonyi -7, Bauchi -4, Plateau -4, Nasarawa -1, Taraba -3, Benue -1, Kaduna -1, Kwara -1, Oyo -2, Delta -1, and Rivers -1. Also, in the same week, 14 new deaths were reported from nine states; Edo -2, Ondo -1, Rivers -1, Plateau -2, Oyo -1, Ebonyi -4, Enugu -1, Taraba -1 and Nasarawa -1.

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Since the onset of the outbreak of Lassa fever this year, a total of 731 suspected cases have been reported from 19 states. At present, 98 patients are being managed at various hospitals in states with reported cases. A total of 42 patients are currently in Irrua Specialist Teaching Hospital (ISTH) treatment Centre, 25 in Federal Medical Centre Owo, eight in Federal Teaching Hospital Abakiliki, five in Bauchi, seven in Plateau and other states. Speaking on efforts made by NCDC to curb the spread of the disease, the Director-General NCDC, Chikwe Ihekweazu, said a multi-sectoral one-health national rapid response team comprising of staff from NCDC, NFELTP, Federal Ministry of Agricultural and Federal Ministry of Environment have been deployed to Ondo, Edo, Ebonyi, Plateau and Bauchi states.

He said a total of 2791 contacts have been identified from nine states. “Of these 2,080 (74.5%) are currently being followed up, and 647 (23.2%) have completed 21 days follow up. 23(0.8.1%) symptomatic contacts have been identified, of which 13 (0.4%) have tested positive,” he said.