The Federal government says 72 people have died since August, in the Lassa fever outbreak which Nigeria is battling with and 212 are suffering from the disease.
Minister for Health, Isaac Adewole warned that unless adequate measures were quickly put in place, the disease could spread to other parts of the country. So far it has been reported in 17 out of the 36 states in the country.
The latest death was reported yesterday in Plateau State where three people have now been killed by the disease.
Lassa Fever is a zoonotic disease. Its vector is the multi-breasted rat prevalent in West Africa. There is no known vaccine for the virus, leaving the only way of preventing it as being far away from the vector of the virus that causes it — rats — as much as possible.
