It is no longer news that for past six weeks, there has been an outbreak of Lassa fever in Nigeria that has spread to 10 states already. Described as “Ebola-Style” by The Associated Press, this outbreak has so far claimed 41 lives out of the reported 81 cases. The symptoms of Lassa fever are in some ways similar to Ebola from high fever, to hemorrhaging of the eyes, gum and nose to almost eventual death; this has brought fear to people within and outside Nigeria. The minister for health, Prof. Isaac Adewole in his speech last week in Abuja officially announced the outbreak and informed the general public to remain calm as he stated that measures have already been put in place to curb the spread of the disease.
Since its first episode 47 years ago, Lassa fever has continually remained a source of great concern to Nigerians as it has resulted in the death of poor Nigerians from time to time. The reasons for this may not be so far-fetched. Research has shown that regions associated with extreme poverty are more prone to spread of this class of disease. These regions are highly underdeveloped, and in most places the health system and hygiene of the people is way below standard. This includes their ways of food processing and storage, the state of their homes and social places, the clinics and hospitals. We would reckon from our previous posts that the Lassa fever is transmitted via the link human-rat and rat-human and the major source of transfer is exposing of food such that these rodents have access to them. This explains why these regions are mostly affected by diseases like this.
As we further examine the root cause of this recurring epidemic, Prof. Dennis Agbonlahor stated that “There is not enough awareness of the endemicity of this disease in Nigeria”. He also explained that, “There is a large reservoir of the Lassa virus in rodents, and experts believe getting rid of rodents that carry the virus would solve a large chunk of the problem.” In getting rid of these rodents, there is the need to ensure that proper personal and environmental hygiene is enforced and maintained.
Dr. Oyewole Tomori made a statement: that Lassa fever has been “an annual recurrent budget of death for the poor people of Nigeria”. He gave his reasons: “Because we have lived in a state of denial of the disease and handled it with characteristic laxity, laissez-faire, negligence sloppiness, slackness, disregard, triviality and freewheeling abandon”.
As pointed out by several people the major reasons why this disease is persistently periodic are: Poor personal and environmental hygiene, lackadaisical attitude of the government towards the disease and ignorance.
This outbreak and rapid spread serves as a wake-up call to the Nigerian government. Having lost 41 lives out of the reported 81 in 6 weeks, there is the need for the government to ensure that health centers across the nation are standardized and better equipped with facilities and adequate staff to combat and quickly curb outbreaks like this, especially in the not-so developed regions that are associated with high level of ignorance and poverty. There is also the need for the Nigerian Government to have stand-by rapid response teams heavily equipped such that at the slightest notification of outbreaks such as this, they swing full into action to prevent this manner of loss of lives. The government should also make efforts to encourage proper personal hygiene amongst the people and we may just be saying goodbye to our last occurrence of the epidemic.
Culled from: Daily Trust
Written by: Ozioma Paul
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