Nigerian authorities confirm 9 deaths, 20 cases from viral Lassa fever outbreak
Nigeria is battling a new outbreak of Lassa fever.
The Centre for Disease Control has confirmed nine deaths and 20 cases from the viral hemorrhagic fever. Lassa fever is endemic to West Africa with Nigeria recoding its worst outbreak between August 2015 and September last year with the disease claiming 154 lives.
CGTN’s Deji Badmus has on the story.
About Lassa fever
Even though Lassa fever and Ebola have similarities, the two diseases are explicitly different. Lassa is less infectious and far less fatal. About 1 percent of Lassa patients die as compared with about 70 percent in the case of Ebola.
However in both cases, patients present with fever, nausea, diarrhoea and in severe cases bleeding from the eyes and ears, a complication that without immediate medical attention, leads to death.
Here is more on the disease.
