Nigeria records 173 Lassa fever deaths as cholera kills 233

Nigeria Center for Disease Control (NCDC) revealed that the country said there were 933 confirmed cases and 173 deaths from Lassa fever as of week 39, in 25 states, adding that of all of confirmed cases, 71% were from Ondo, Edo and Bauchi states.

The Director General of NCDC, Dr. Ifedayo Adetifa, during the Ministerial Briefing and Update on COVID-19 Response and Development in the Health Sector, further revealed that 'a total of 10,217 suspected cholera cases, including 233 deaths, have been recorded in 31 states this year.

He said there was a 47% increase in the number of new suspected cholera cases in epidemiological week 36-39 of August (4,017) compared to epidemiological week 31-35 of August. July.

Adetifa further stated that 18,545 confirmed measles cases and 234 deaths were recorded as of week 39 in 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT); while for monkeypox, 1,180 suspected cases, 481 confirmed cases and seven deaths were recorded in 2022.

He said children under the age of five were particularly at risk and currently 40 local government areas had active cases.

Adetifa pointed out that the center has continued to encourage parents to vaccinate children against measles to control it.

Adetifa also expressed concern that the Sudanese strain of Ebola virus was not covered by available vaccines and that there were no licensed vaccines or treatments for it.

He assured, however, that all relevant authorities were on high alert given the realities of globalization and the fact that an infection such as Ebola was only a plane flight away. any country.

“We are a bit reassured because we have some experience in managing Ebola. We have the diagnostic capacity, but we would rather not have it. We would prefer not to have to respond to it, especially with the strain that has no vaccines and no authorized treatments”.

“Monitoring at ports of entry is at a very high level. Passengers traveling from Uganda or having transited through Uganda are monitored for 21 days to ensure that they are in good health.< /p>

"The difference between Ebola and something like COVID-19 is that victims have to be actually sick and symptomatic before they can transmit.

"Ebola allows professionals to detect likely suspects early, but it also means that by the time victims are identified, everyone around is at significant risk."

On COVID-19, Adetifa said that in more than two years since the start of the outbreak, Nigeria had conducted over five million tests; which has confirmed 65,741 cases and 3,155 deaths.

Adetifa said that globally, cases have continued to decline in various countries as he confirmed that in Nigeria, case trends have varied.

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He confirmed that with further testing, the spread of COVID-19 had slowed dramatically to the odd here and there.

Adetifa encouraged Nigerians to receive available vaccines to prevent the emergence of new variants.

"At this time, we are working to review the COVID-19 guidelines and hope that we will relax or lift the remaining restrictions.

"We will put measures in place to assess the impact of the rollback, particularly with new types of travel looming and year-end gatherings expected.

“We will be implementing enhanced surveillance through testing, targeting 12 states at this time to ensure that with epidemiological data, we can detect any changes that occur and respond appropriately,” he explained.