Lassa Fever kills 14 in Benue

Lassa fever has claimed 14 lives in Benue state in the last six months, the Lassa Fever State Focal Person for the state, Mrs. Benita Kanshio has disclosed.

Kanshio while speaking in Makurdi at a stakeholders’ engagement and sensitisation meeting on the control of Lassa Fever organised by the State Ministry of Health, said the state recorded 1,030 suspected cases, 14 deaths.

The Lassa Fever State Focal Person explained that the engagement was important, saying “between December and now, we recorded 1,030 suspected cases of Lassa Fever. We had 66 confirmed cases within the outbreak and we recorded 14 deaths.

“The healthcare workers affected while managing the cases were 14 in number including two Doctors, Nurses and Community Health Workers.”

The One Health Coordinator, Benue State Ministry of Health and Human Services, Dr. Jerry Agber explained that the State Ministry of Health in collaboration with other stakeholders put the meeting together to sensitise the people on the control of Lassa Fever in the state, “with particular focus on strategies to stop the importation of rats from other states to Benue, which are the vector of Lassa Fever.”

“Overtime we have been dealing with outbreaks of Lassa Fever in Benue state. For the past two years it has been recurrent. And this year’s outbreak has been the worse of all.

“The cases of Lassa we had from January to this point are more than the total number we had in 2023.

“When we x-rayed the issue we discovered that one of the routes that are fueling the spread of Lassa Fever in the state is the importation of rats from other Northern states into Benue state.”

“So it became very important to call a stakeholders meeting like this where we have market women, traditional rulers, the Police, paraparamilitary organisations, the Qurantine officials, among others to interact and chart a way forward and fill the missing link that saw us record those outbreaks” he stated.

However, the Ter Makurdi, HRH, Chief Vincent Aule called for a legislation banning the importation and consumption of rats in the state.

The traditional ruler who expressed shock at the figure recorded in the state, said decisive steps must be taken to check the spread of the disease.

Represented by the Kindred Head of Wurukum, Chief Simon Tov, the Ter Makurdi said for the campaign to check the rising cases of Lassa Fever in the state to be successful “we need a law by the State Assembly banning the importation and consumption of rats in Benue so that the violators of the law can be arrested and prosecuted.”