A case of Lassa fever has been reported in Lagos.
According to reports, Minister of Health Isaac Adewole confirmed on Friday that the new case involved a 25-year-old student of Ahmadu Bello University (ABU) Zaria who was admitted at the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH).
The patient is said to be responding to treatment.
The latest case brings to 11 the number of states affected by Lassa fever.
Meanwhile, Dr Wale Oke, Chief Medical Director of LASUTH says there was no Lassa fever case reported at the hospital.
“I am here to say categorically that nothing like that happened,” he told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).
“As we speak, there has been no reported case of Lassa fever in Lagos State and there is nobody in our casualty or anybody brought to our casualty ward that we refuse to see.
“And we do not have anybody who has Lassa fever. We have, however, one or two patients who bleed for other reasons.
“A patient had a bleeding from the nose which is called epistaxis; that can be caused by a lot of things, including hypertension.
“The other patient just had suspected meningitis and they are in the hospital, they are being well attended to and they are improving,” he said.
“For Lassa fever, we have to create beds and we are making efforts to do that so that we can have a triage area where cases which are suspected can be kept.
“And finally, cases proven to be positive will now be transferred to the infectious disease unit,” Oke said.
He urged the public to practice the universal safety precaution against the disease, including handwashing and reduced contact with an infected person.
