Anambra and Lassa fever pandemic

Since Anambra state recorded the first case of Lassa fever, everyone has been on their toes. OKECHUKWU ONUEGBU captures the pulse of the people.

Immediately Anambra state recorded her first Lassa fever case, everything suddenly appeared to fall apart as most public institutions especially health centres were put on alert.

The reaction of NAU Awka

A 25-year old-200 level student of Nnamdi Azikiwe University (NAU) was diagnosed of the endemic at Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu University Teaching Hospital, Amaku, Awka, and was immediately referred to the regional Virology Centre in Abakaliki, for proper treatment.

The acting head, information and public relations of the university, Ms Chika Ene, had in a statement disclosed that the student, whose name was not provided for obvious reason, was admitted into the medical centre and later discharged herself against medical advice.

“Prior to the discharge and going by the standard discharge protocol in medical practice, the ward and conveniences were adequately decontaminated and the environment made safe for both patients and members of the medical staff.

“On diagnosis, the Public Health Department of the state Ministry of Health got in touch with our medical centre and so far, contact tracing has been done for both medical personnel and students who had primary contact with the index case.

“They are equally being followed up closely to monitor for secondary transmission. The index case is responding to treatment as our telephone correspondence revealed. The management assures the university community and general public to remain calm while they go about their daily routine. We have applied and would continue to apply all healthy and safety measures in ensuring our medical centre is safe up and running to serve the community better,” parts of her statement noted.

Ene also urged the public to always maintain basic precautionary measures of hygiene to minimise contact and spread of the disease which, according to her, is endemic in Nigeria.

Efforts by individuals/ state government

The medical advice seemed to have stemmed down the nerves of even politicians as Chief Johnbosco Onunkwo, a chieftain of the All Progressive Congress (APC) was spotted at a recent political function in Awka, directing his aides to be sharing tins of hand sanitisers to people. The politician had come to the event with cartons of sanitisers which Blueprint learnt later finished before the end of the function.

He wasn’t alone; Mrs Nkechi Ahanonu, a business woman told Blueprint that since the case was reported, she had stopped drinking garri in her house. “We no longer drink garri as before. In the past, I made it a hobby that I must take garri at least once a week usually in afternoon.

“As I speak to you, the price of the essential commodity has equally depreciated in the market. A paint container previously sold for N1,000 at Eke Awka has returned to N800 or less depending on your power to bargain. People now take semovita and others for swallow,” she added.

A newspaper vendor, Miss Sandra Okwuta, said the outbreak equally affected his business. “Before now, I used to make more sales through reselling unsold papers to customers. The prices range from N50. And my customers were mostly those frying akara (bean cake), vehicle painters, corn sellers, suya sellers and others, but their level of patronage are decreasing daily. When you ask, they would tell you they have been advised to be using nylon and others against papers to avoid spreading Lassa fever. They said they were told that rats urinate on papers; therefore using it and consuming something from it could lead to a person contacting it,” she stated. 

Mr C. Don Adinuba, the state commissioner for information & public enlightenment, had in a recent statement disclosed some basic measures to be observed to prevent spread of it. He added that 50 persons he had come into contact with in the preceding three weeks in both her hometown and her university were being examined and watched closely by experts.

“This is in conformity with globally established protocol in treating Lassa fever. The Anambra state government has a responsibility to ensure that there is no other case of Lassa fever in the state and where it occurs, this highly contagious disease is contained at once,” Adinuba further maintained.

He said the state government also set up two special centres at the Onitsha General Hospital and at the General Hospital at Umueri in Anambra East Local Government Area for quick management of any future reported cases of the disease in the state.

The commissioner proffered as precautionary measures, constant washing of hands with soap, use of sanitisers to clean hands from time to time, covering of foods tightly against rats penetration through urine and faeces.

According to Adinuba, “Cook your food very well so that where it is touched by rat’s urine or excreta, it would not be dangerous to human health; stop spreading your foodstuffs like grain and cassava pellets on the road where rats can easily assess them; stop bush burning which drives rats from bushes to homes; stop self-medication because Lassa fever may be confused with common illnesses like malaria with which they share symptoms like high temperature and nausea.

“Report any suspected case of lassa fever to the Anambra State Ministry of Health at Jerome Udoji Secretariat, Awka or to the Onitsha General Hospital or to the General Hospital in Umueri, Anambra East Local Government Area. “The doctors and other medical staff members in these places have been well trained to handle Lassa fever in the most professional way. They have been placed on red alert and to have high index of suspicion on presenting symptoms like high fever.”

Lassa fever is a hemorrhagic fever (LHF) caused by virus believed to have been found in Lassa community in Borno state, Nigeria. The virus had killed thousands of people in the country with a spread to about 28 states of the federation since inception.  

The Anambra state commissioner for health, Dr Vincent Okpala, who confirmed the Lassa fever pandemic, released emergency phone numbers for reporting the case, maintaining that the state’s response team was prepared to prevent outbreak of the sickness in Anambra towns bounded with others that had cases of the fever.

Okpala said the team responded to notification of a suspected case of the fever and followed the national guidelines in managing the case. He said, “From isolation and sample collection for testing, the result of the laboratory test came out positive for Lassa fever. With this development, the state now has an index case.

“The case was safely transported to Viral Centre in Abakailiki and the Emergency Response Team has successfully decontaminated that isolation ward, which accommodated the index case. So, in continuation of the state’s response to the index case, the state activated the Public Health Emergency Operation Centre (PHEOC) on January 29.”

The commissioner said they had constituted four contact tracing teams in different locations for the listing and follow-up, management of contacts of the case that started contact listing.

He urged the populace to take basic measures to protect themselves in their homes, schools, markets, churches and other public places while entreating healthcare workers working in private and public sectors to observe special precautions as demanded by the situation for their safety and safety of their patients and loved ones.

  

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