Lassa Fever is gradually becoming an epidemic in Nigeria spreading to various states of the federation including Lagos.
As a result of the discovery of a case in Lagos State on Friday, the state government has shut down the popular Ahmmadiyyah Hospital in the Ojokoro area of the state.
A patient, 25-year old undergraduate of the Ahmadu Bello University, Kaduna, was diagnosed after he had been to the hospital. The patient later went to the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH).
The Ahmmadiyyah Hospital has therefore being sealed off from the public until further notice while 15 in-patients and 25 health workers in the hospital are being monitored for the next 21 days as disclosed by the State Commissioner for Health, Dr. Jide Idris.
Idris also said government officials have embarked on contact tracing with 92 contacts currently being followed up. These contacts include those at LUTH.
Meanwhile, the Ogun State Government has released emergency numbers and designated three hospitals for the handling of Lassa Fever cases should it spring up in the state.
Commissioner for Health, Dr Babatunde Ipaye, on Saturday, listed the Olabisi Onabanjo University Teaching Hospital (OOUTH), Sagamu, the State Hospital in Ijaiye and the General Hospital, Iberekodo, Abeokuta, as the designated hospitals.
He described the measure as a proactive step to combat any outbreak of the virus in the state and therefore appealed to residents to maintain good hygiene.
Ipaye disclosed that the government had mounted surveillance since the outbreak of the virus in Bauchi, in November 2015 and that no case had been recorded in Ogun so far.
He disclosed that the health ministry had equipped the local government areas with surveillance facilities to trace any case while collaborating with other government agencies on enlightenment.
