Nigeria to investigate latest Lassa fever outbreak

Nigeria has set up a National Lassa Fever Action Committee to investigate, control and prevent further outbreaks of the disease which has claimed almost 50 lives across the country.

The committee, which is also laden with the responsibility of coordinating responses from government and development partners in controlling the spread of the disease, is headed by Oyewale Tomori, a Nigerian professor of virology who was among a team that discovered Lassa fever in its first ever outbreak in 1969.

While inaugurating the committee in Abuja, Nigeria's minister of health, Isaac Adewole, said government has reposed confidence in the committee to provide technical expertise toward containing the outbreak.

The probe committee is further expected to come up with standard treatment protocol and guidelines for management of Lassa fever, develop standard operating procedures on infection control in hospitals and mobilize resources for prevention and control of the disease.

Lassa fever is an acute and often fatal viral disease, occurring mainly in West Africa. It is usually transmitted by contact with the saliva or excreta of rats accessing homes and food stores.

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.

The latest outbreak is said to be the worst of the virus in Nigeria in the past four years. It erupted November last year and the first reported case was in the northeastern state of Bauchi.

In 2012, Lassa fever killed more than 40 in 12 states across Nigeria. Endit