Nigeria’s Lassa fever outbreak remains a concern – WHO

After nearly 400 confirmed infections and 100 deaths, the spread of Lassa fever in Nigeria is beginning to slow but the epidemic is far from contained, the World Health Organisation and the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) have warned.
NCDC’s latest data shows that the number of new confirmed and probable cases has been falling for fi ve consecutive weeks, indicating that public health measures are proving eff ective, but more infections are expected until the end of the dry season, as the viral haemorrhagic fever is endemic to the area.
Between January 1 and March 25, the NCDC reported 394 laboratory confirmed cases.
There were 18 new confirmed cases in the last reporting week (19-25 March 2018), compared to 54 confirmed cases a month earlier (19-25 February 2018).
“We should interpret the recent declining trend in new cases with caution.
The Lassa fever season is not yet over.
We need to maintain vigilance and response operations, and ensure continued engagement with communities to help curb the further spread of Lassa fever,” said Wondimagegnehu Alemu, WHO Representative to Nigeria.
The current epidemic is Nigeria’s largest on record, with the number of confirmed cases in January and February alone exceeding the total number reported in the whole of 2017.
The case count has not yet fallen to usual endemic levels and the exact cause for the high numbers of infections has not been pinpointed.
Research is being conducted in real-time to answer some of these questions.
“We are researching what has led to so many people becoming infected with Lassa fever,” said Chikwe Ihekweazu, Chief Executive Officer of the NCDC.
“Even with a downward trend, until we can better understand the causes behind its rapid spread, we must treat the outbreak as a priority.
” Whole genome sequencing can reveal information that contributes to the understanding and the control of infectious disease outbreaks.
Researchers at the Irrua Specialist Teaching Hospital – in collaboration with the Bernhard-Nocht Institute for Tropical Medicine, Germany, WHO, NCDC and others – have conducted genome sequencing of the Lassa virus.
“By conducting research as the Lassa fever outbreak unfolds, Nigeria is a pioneering a new approach.
Until now research in Africa has taken place much later in the response cycle.
This is a new approach which opens the way to much more eff ective control of emerging and dangerous pathogens,” he said.