Nineteen persons have been confirmed killed by Lassa fever in Taraba State between January and February 2024 at the Federal Medical Centre (FMC), Jalingo in the state capital.

The hospital’s acting head of clinical services, Joseph Kuni, disclosed this to LEADERSHIP in an interview.

Kuni said, “At present, we have 10 patients in our isolation ward, some of them their results are being awaited. From January to February, the centre has recorded 19 Lassa fever deaths from the isolation centre.

“From January to February, we sent 105 samples and 60 of them came out positive for Lassa fever while 39 came out negative, the rest are being awaited.

The outbreak of the disease was further confirmed yesterday by the state’s commissioner for health, Gbangsheya Buma.

He also confirmed the cases of the viral haemorrhagic fever (Lassa fever) at the FMC, Jalingo.

Buma said eight of nine suspected cases that were tested last Friday came out positive.

He revealed that the state Ministry of Health was monitoring the situation and working in collaboration with Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) and FMC authorities to contain the spread of the disease.

Buma said, “It is not a surprising thing, this is the season and we have made preparations, though the outbreak may be overwhelming. I just received support from NCDC, they have sent some people here to provide technical support with the aim of stopping the progress of the disease.

“We are actually on top of it. We have provided support as a state to the FMC to provide free treatment to Lassa fever patients. Eight of the nine blood samples from suspected cases collected from FMC Jalingo,” the commissioner said.

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