The Kano Centre for Disease Control has confirmed the death of one person and two additional infections following a Lassa fever outbreak in the state.
The agency’s Director-General, Mohammed Adamu, disclosed this while briefing journalists on Monday night.
He said the deceased, a staff member of Médecins Sans Frontières, died from complications of the disease, while a doctor and another woman later contracted the infection after coming into contact with the victim.
Adamu said, “We recorded a case of Lassa fever but we were able to bring the situation under control.”
He explained that the index case involved a French national who developed symptoms about a week after arriving in Nigeria.
Adamu stated, “On the 28th January, a white woman from France who worked with Médecins Sans Frontières. After a week of coming to Nigeria, she came down with a fever. She went to the hospital, where she was given medications.
“After three days, she discovered the illness was deteriorating as she was bleeding. So she went to a hospital, unfortunately, she passed away on that same day.”
According to him, her remains were taken to the mortuary at Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital before authorities were notified.
“They moved her corpse to the mortuary at AKTH and later we were informed about the development. So we collected her blood sample to carry out a series of tests and she tested positive for Lassa fever,” he said.
He further revealed that contact tracing identified more infections.
(punch)
