Liberia’s Ministry of Health in collaboration with the National Public Institute of Liberia has confirmed at least 21 deaths from Lassa fever in the country.
The announcement was made Friday in Monrovia. One health worker, who was said to be a laboratory technician, is among the dead.
According to Dr. Francis Kateh, Chief Medical officer of Liberia, 25 confirmed cases and 92 suspected cases were recorded between January 1 and August 25 this year.
The cases are reported from Nimba (9), Bong (10), Grand Bassa (5) and Grand Kru (1)) while 92 other cases remain suspected cases, the National Public Health Institute said in a release.
On August 24 and 25, NPHIL says its laboratory also confirmed two additional cases of Lassa fever infection in a 46-year old male and a 14-year old female, both residents of Suakoko Town, Bong County.
A release also quoted that the case fatality rate among confirmed cases is 36% and males are mostly affected by the disease (56%) of confirmed cases as compared to females.
“What is more concerning to us is the fact that when health workers, that have the authority and have been trained to identify and take care of others, are being infected then that escalates the process to another level,” Dr. Keteh told journalists on Friday morning at an unarranged press conference intended to announce the emergency.
Nyenswah, Director General of NPHIL said Lassa is second to Ebola and at such no need to hide the information. He added it was better we put the information out t and deal with situation on how it can be prevented .”
Is prepared to fight Lassa fever?
NPHIL says the viral disease is not new to Liberia but they are concerned about the “sporadic increase” outside the Lassa Belt which requires “urgent attention.”
Liberia was astounded by the Ebola outbreak between 2014 and 2015 exposing the weakness of the country’s health sector and killing over 11,000 people.
About Lassa Fever
Lassa fever is an animal-borne, or zoonotic, acute viral illness. It is endemic in parts of West Africa including Sierra Leone, Liberia, Guinea and Nigeria. Neighboring countries are also at risk, as the animal vector for Lassa virus, the “multimammate rat.
An estimated 100,000 to 300,000 infections of Lassa fever occur annually, with approximately 5,000 deaths.
At the same time, the public has been warned to improve hygiene measures by keeping their environment clean, cover dishes to prevent rats from coming in contact with them, cover food in tightly-closed containers, avoid eating rats, avoid drying food in open places, avoid body contact with affected persons and endemic zone, and visit a health facility immediately when you feel sick amongst others measures.
NPHIL, MOH and partners have also called on the general public to take the necessary preventive measures and report cases of fever to the nearest health facility.
“We continue to improve our rapid response teams at county, district and community levels through the County Emergency Operations Centers (EOCs) and to provide technical, financial and logistical support to the outbreaks,” NPHIL release added.
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