Three medical staff of the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH) Idi Araba have tested positive to the dreaded Lassa fever disease.
This is just as the two index patients including a pregnant woman lost their lives to the current outbreak, leaving no fewer hundred persons at grave risk of contacting the viral disease.
The three medical personnel who tested positive after developing symptoms of the disease were among the hundred persons who made initial contacts with the diseased patients.
The Chief Medical Director, LUTH, Professor Chris ‘Bode in a statement confirmed their status, stating that they were currently in admission at the Isolation Ward of the hospital.
“There are being cared for by a corps of professional and volunteer doctors, nurses, pharmacist, microbiologists, epidemiologists, emotional care givers, cleaners and others round the clock”, he said.
He also said that “training has been commenced and additional space has been readied for any likely cases from within or without the hospital”
“We are working in close partnership with the Lagos State Government’s Ministry of Health, the Nigeria Centre for Disease (NCDC) and the Federal Ministry of Health.”
“The current outbreak is being effectively traced in the field and those currently exposed to the case are being treated.
“So there is no panic about the outbreak,” he maintained.
Speaking, Matron in charge of the Isolation Ward, Mrs. Mojo Ayonrinde, told Nigerian Tribune that the patients were responding to treatment, adding that some of her volunteers were leaving for fear contacting the disease.