Four persons, including two pregnant women, have been confirmed dead from suspected cases of Lassa Fever in the Awe Local Government Area of Nasarawa State.
The deaths, which occurred on Wednesday, forced the state government to shut down the General Hospital in Awe, as health workers, including the Medical Superintendent, have been quarantined.
Speaking on the development, the Disease Surveillance Officer in the area, Ahmad Yahuza Abdullahi, explained that tension began to mount when a woman was brought to a health facility in Awe with Lassa fever symptoms suddenly died before receiving medical care.
He explained that a few days later, the woman’s husband also died after presenting similar symptoms.
Abdullahi pointed out that poor handling of the suspected cases is one of the major challenges confronting health workers in managing disease outbreaks.
According to him, some suspected patients who were conveyed to Lafia, the capital, for isolation, reportedly escaped, further causing tension in the area.
“None of the Disease Surveillance Officers across the 13 Local Government Areas of Nasarawa State has been provided with any form of transportation such as motorcycles by the government, which is affecting prompt response to remote areas.
“The state government sent an ambulance to Awe to convey six suspected cases for isolation in Lafia, but they escaped even before the laboratory test results were released,” he lamented.
Also speaking, a nurse at the General Hospital, Awe, Ovey Polycarp, called for the urgent provision of protective kits for health workers in order to help curb the spread of the disease.
“The two women were brought to the hospital almost at the same time with symptoms resembling malaria, but their conditions deteriorated to bleeding and haemorrhage, which led to their deaths.
“We are living in fear because we do not have protective equipment to manage the outbreak,” he lamented.
But the Director of Public Health at the Nasarawa State Ministry of Health, Dr. Peter Attah, insisted that only one confirmed case of Lassa fever has been recorded in the Awe Local Government Area.
The director argued that the patient died before the laboratory result could be released.
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