Lassa fever kills three persons in Rivers State

At least three persons have been confirmed killed by the Lassa fever virus in Rivers State.

The Director, Planning and Statistics, State Ministry of Health, Dr. Chinwe Atata, confirmed the deaths in Port Harcourt while briefing newsmen on the deadly virus.

Atata said the deceased had since been buried, adding that the Public Health Emergency Operation Centre in the state had intensified efforts towards containing the outbreak of the disease.

She disclosed that health experts had also been carrying out decontamination of facilities, presumptive prophylaxis and surveillance to ensure public health.

Her words, “There was a case. It happened in the night and the person passed away. The sample was sent to Irua and that is one of the positive cases.

“Two samples were sent from here and one sample was the Irua case, which was positive and they are all late.”

According to her, close family members of the deceased have been put under surveillance and regular tests for the virus.

“Presently, there is no spread of the virus in the state. The 57 persons are still under surveillance; they are going through the routine procedure and decontamination of the facilities has been done.

“The families of the late are also under surveillance. The drugs are available and we have a lot of them that have been procured by the Rivers State Government.”

She recalled briefing journalists few days ago on a number of cases that were being investigated in the state.

“We have received preliminary confirmation that three of the samples tested positive to Lassa virus.

“The Rivers State Public Health Emergency Operation Centre (EOC) had earlier commenced proactive effort for containment of the outbreak. So far, all hands are on deck for facility decontamination, linelisting, presumptive prophylaxis and surveillance to ensure Public health safety and security,” she stated.

The director, however, urged the people not to panic, assuring that experts were on the ground to contain the disease.

Promising to update the public regularly on the development, she charged health centres to uphold standard infection prevention principles required for service delivery.