LAGOS, Aug. 8 (Xinhua) -- At least two people lost their lives in the outbreak of Lassa Fever in Lagos, Nigeria's economic hub, while 100 others are currently under observation, a doctor said Tuesday.
In a statement sent to Xinhua in Lagos, Chris Bode, Chief Medical Director of Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH), said each of these two patients sought medical attention very late and died in spite of efforts to salvage them.
According to him, a resident doctor from the Department of Anatomic and Molecular Pathology who took part in the autopsy was later confirmed with the disease and is currently on admission and responding well to treatment at the Isolation Ward of LUTH.
He enjoined all hospital workers to maintain a heightened level of alert in the wake of this new outbreak and observe universal precautions in handling all suspected cases of this viral hemorrhagic fever.
The medical chief added that Lagos State Ministry of Health and the Federal Ministry of Health have responded swiftly to contain this present Lassa fever outbreak by mobilizing human and material resources to trace the sources and extent of the disease, follow up on potential contacts, identify early and test suspected cases.
He said there are adequate materials for containment of the disease while drugs have been made available to treat anyone confirmed with the disease.
The doctor added that the Center for Disease Control (CDC) in Nigeria has also been contacted.
Two other suspected cases from Lagos state are also presently admitted and quarantined while undergoing confirmatory laboratory tests, he added.
Lassa fever is an acute febrile illness, with bleeding and death in severe cases, caused by the Lassa fever virus with an incubation period of 6-21 days.
The virus, a member of the virus family Arenaviridae, is zoonotic, or animal-borne. About 80 percent of human infections are without symptoms; the remaining cases have severe multiple organ disease, where the virus affects several organs in the body, such as the liver, spleen and kidneys.
Lassa fever is a significant cause of severe illness and death. Enditem
