Ebonyi State government yesterday confirmed the death of a doctor and a nurse from a renewed Lassa fever outbreak in the state.
Commissioner for Health Dr Daniel Onwuzurike spoke with reporters in Abakaliki. He noted that the deceased were working at the Federal Teaching Hospital Abakaliki.
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The commissioner said the contact-tracing for all suspected cases would end today, while the victims would be placed on the stipulated 21-day surveillance required for full confirmation.
“We urge indigenes of the state not to panic because the outbreak is an isolated one and not an epidemic as erroneously being speculated.
“We have also contacted the federal ministry of health on the issue and it has pledged to immediately send needed commodities and manpower to complement our efforts,’’ he said.
“We will sustain our enlightenment campaigns over the media and relevant avenues on the need for people to maintain adequate hygiene and immediately report suspected cases to relevant authorities,’’ he said.
“The conjugate is about $20 a vial, while the polyvalent is $3 a vial, so you can calculate what we need for the Nigeria population, and that is for just the vaccine, not including the syringes and other consumables; so, our best bet is to alert Nigerians that this is the season for meningitis and they should beware. We need to contain it.”
Minister of Health Prof Isaac Adewole yesterday urged Nigerians to look out for suspected cases of meningitis.
It is so easy to treat because the causative organism is responsive to antibiotics, but when we do not know that it is meningitis, we could treat malaria for three to five days, typhoid for one week then by the time we get to know, it would have spread. And it spreads like wildfire. As we attend to patients, 10 people can surround the infected person and that one patient would infect six or seven persons and it spreads like that. So, this is the season to alert people to look out and promptly report any suspicion to nearest health facility.
“The government does not have enough money to vaccinate the whole country.
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