Lassa fever: Four additional cases recorded in Bauchi

Barely one week after it was confirmed that 3 people have been infected with the deadly Lassa fever disease in Bauchi State, four more cases have been confirmed bringing the total of cases to seven.

The disclosure was made by the Bauchi State Primary Health Care Development Agency (BASPHCDA) which stated that the confirmed Lassa fever cases in the state as at Friday, 31st January  2020 have risen to seven while 22 other cases are under close observation.

Executive Secretary of the Agency, Dr Rilwan Mohammed, who disclosed this while giving updates of the outbreak to Journalists at a Press Conference in Bauchi on Friday added that the suspected cases have now risen to 22 victims who have been placed under medical observation and monitoring by health officials.

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Rilwanu Mohammed further stated that Lassa fever was not new in the state stressing that all the suspected cases have been sent to the National Disease Control Center in Abuja for testing and authentication adding however that no death has so far been recorded in the state since the outside this year.

The BASPHCDA boss said, “The last time we told you that we had 15 suspected cases but as at now, the suspected cases have increased to 22. I also told you last time that we had three confirmed cases, four new cases have been added bringing the total number of confirmed cases in the state to seven”.

He added that “The seven new confirmed cases this year are as follows: Bauchi has two, Tafawa Balewa has two, while Kirfi, Alkaleri and Toro have one case each. We have two more suspected cases in Giade Local Government and one in Azare, Katagum LGA. We are planning on what to do with Azare because it is close to Kano state and since there is an outbreak there (in Kano), we are now afraid,”.

Rilwanu Mohammed added that” there was a suspected case that was brought there from Giade and the patient was bleeding, so they were confused. We in Bauchi are not panicking, we are trained and this is not new to us in the state, so we know what to do.”

He said that Bauchi State has been helping states like Gombe, Plateau, Kano, on what to do with the new cases in their states and warned that, “all Lassa fever cases should be transported in an ambulance and not in a commercial car because it can be transmitted to those in the vehicle.”

Rilwanu Mohammed also said that the Agency will soon embark on an aggressive campaign through radio and television jingles and other media to sensitise the public on all preventive measures that they need to undertake to stay safe and prevent the disease from spreading.

He then called on members of the general public not to put emphasis only on rats to human transmission saying that although it (rat) is that initial infection transmitter “most of the infections you get today are not from rats but from human to human and contact with an infected person must be prevented.”

It will be recalled that last week, three cases of the Lassa fever was confirmed and were said to be receiving treatment at the isolation centre of Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University Teaching Hospital in Bauchi while other suspected victims were placed on observation.