The resurgence of Lassa fever

LAST week, the Nigerian Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) confirmed the spread of Lassa fever, a haemorrhagic illness transmitted to humans through contact with food or household items contaminated by infected rodents, in 10 states across the country. In a statement signed by its Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Dr Chikwe Ihekweazu, the agency revealed that, already, there are 107 suspected cases in 10 states, with 21 deaths recorded as of today.

The states are Edo, Ondo, Bauchi, Nasarawa, Ebonyi, Anambra, Benue, Kogi, Imo and Lagos.

The NCDC boss added that following the increasing number of cases, the centre had activated its Emergency Operations Centre (EOC) to coordinate the response to the outbreak on behalf of the Ministry of Health. On his part, the Minister of Health, Professor Isaac Adewole, warned medical practitioners to investigate every case of fever before treatment.

The case of one of the victims, Dr Idowu Victor, is particularly emblematic of the poor state of health infrastructure in the country. Victor, a House Officer at the Federal Medical Centre (FMC), Lokoja, Kogi State, reportedly contracted the disease from a seven-month-old baby who died on January 19. But he had to be taken from Lokoja to Irua, Edo State before he could be properly diagnosed with the infection.

For a person already in pains, the journey from Lokoja to Irua must have presented its own set of challenges and risks. In any case, that person-to-person transmission can occur at the FMC, Lokoja, speaks to the probable absence of adequate infection control measures in the hospital.

Besides, if a hospital of the status of the FMC does not have the facilities to diagnose a common disease like Lassa fever, precisely what can it do? The situation is unfortunate and we can only shudder at the implications of such a dire state of affairs.

ALSO READ: Lassa fever: Expert wants re-introduction of hand-washing in schools

To be sure, we have no objection to the trumpeted collaboration between the NCDC and the World Health Organisation, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Irrua Specialist Teaching Hospital, African Field Epidemiology Network, United States Centers for Disease Control, University of Maryland Baltimore, Alliance for International Medical Action and other agencies in supporting the response in the affected states.

If anything, we welcome and are encouraged by, such combined efforts to tackle the scourge. But it would have been more appropriate and rewarding if such efforts had been proactive.

Given the frequency of the outbreaks, every public hospital of note in the country should by now have been equipped with the facilities to diagnose the virus.

The current practice of waiting for an outbreak before scampering in different directions in search of a solution is defeatist and irresponsible. Nigerians can hardly be expected to be excited by the information that the national guidelines for infection prevention and control as well as Lassa fever case management have been developed and disseminated to the states.

In our previous editorials, we noted that the function of public hygiene, from policy to compliance, has been reduced over the years, with the deleterious effects of the sprouting of various epidemics and diseases and that if the rudiments of public hygiene are strictly adhered to, a lot of these scourges will be effectively mitigated if not totally eradicated.

In this regard, public health inspectors must not only be brought back, their knowledge and skills must be improved upon to meet the challenges of controlling the prevalence of the harmful vectors.

We have, time and again, also urged the state governments to buoy their respective local governments’ public health departments with funds and personnel in order to build capacity for an enduring fight against all forms of epidemics. More than before, governments at all levels need to heed this admonition.

Nevertheless, tackling the Lassa fever scourge requires the cooperation of all compatriots. \

In this regard, we urge all Nigerians to adhere to the preventive measures outlined by the NCDC, namely storing of grains and other foodstuffs in rodent-proof containers, disposing garbage far from the home, maintaining clean households, ensuring regular hand washing, and evolving other measures to discourage rodents from entering homes. We wish the families of the departed the grace to pull through in this hour of need.