Via Xinhua: Lassa fever claims 2 lives in Nigeria's middle-belt state: official. Excerpt:
Two people lost their lives on Wednesday in a recent outbreak of Lassa fever in Nigeria's middle-belt Plateau State, according to an official.
Plateau State Commissioner for Health Fom Dawak told reporters in Jos, the state capital, that a woman and a man died while receiving treatments at the state-run Jos University Teaching Hospital (JUTH) and Vom Christian Hospital respectively.
"Also, two other persons are currently on admission at the Vom Christian Hospital and are responding to treatment on Lassa fever, " the state official said, adding the Ministry of Health had despatched epidemiologists to popularize knowledge on how to contain the disease.
There is a high possibility of treatment and survival for early diagnosis, he said.
The Lassa virus is usually transmitted when the saliva, urine and excreta of the multi-mammalian rats come in contact with humans through their food or water.
Dawak said another symptom of the deadly fever is bleeding, which is why it is usually referred to as haemorrhagic fever associated with bleeding through the nose, gums and urine.
