Appolonia Adeyemi 
The Nigeria Centre for Disease and Control and Prevention (NCDC) yesterday said in less than three months, the country registered 784 confirmed cases of Lassa fever with 142 deaths in 23 states.
The NCDC also said Nigeria recorded a total of 922 suspected cases of cholera, including 32 deaths in 2023. The NCDC via its official website said on Tuesday the infections were recorded from January 1.
Lassa fever is an acute viral haemorrhagic fever caused by the Lassa virus. The NCDC said in the Epidemiological Week 11, the number of new confirmed cases decreased from 70 in Week 10 of 2023, to 38 cases.
The agency said the cases were reported from Edo, Ondo, Ebonyi, Bauchi, Taraba, Benue, Rivers, Plateau, and Nasarawa. It said cumulatively from Epidemiological Week 1 to Week 11, 2023, 142 deaths had been reported with Case Fatality Rate, CFR, of 18.1 per cent which was lower than the 18.7 per cent CFR for the same period in 2022.
The NCDC said in total for 2023, 23 states recorded at least one confirmed case across 97 local government areas. The public health institution said 71 per cent of all new confirmed Lassa fever cases were reported from Ondo, Edo and Bauchi while 29 per cent came from six states.
It said of the 71 per cent, Ondo reported 32 percent, Edo, 29 and Bauchi, 10. According to the NCDC, the predominant age group affected is 21-30 years with the median age as 32 years. Meanwhile, the Cholera outbreak was disclosed in the latest NCDC Cholera Situation weekly epidemiological report for week nine posted on the Agency’s web- site yesterday.
The report revealed that 12 states across 32 Local Government Areas (LGAs) have reported the suspected cases, with a case fatality ratio of 3.5 per cent. Cholera is an acute diarrheal illness caused by infection of the intestine with Vibrio Cholerae bacteria; it can kill within hours if left untreated.
