FOUR persons, including two pregnant women, have reportedly died from suspected Lassa fever in Awe Local Government Area of Nasarawa State.
Following the deaths, the General Hospital in Awe was shut down, while health workers at the facility, including the medical superintendent, were placed in isolation as a precaution.
The outbreak allegedly began when a woman was taken to a health centre with symptoms linked to Lassa fever but died before receiving treatment. Her husband later passed away after developing similar symptoms.
A Disease Surveillance Officer, Mallam Ahmad Yahuza Abdullahi, blamed the situation on poor handling of suspected cases and inadequate logistics, noting that none of the disease surveillance officers across the state’s 13 local government areas has been provided with motorcycles to access remote communities promptly.
He also disclosed that although the state government deployed an ambulance to transfer six suspected cases to Lafia for isolation, the patients reportedly escaped before their laboratory test results were released.
Health workers have raised concerns over the lack of protective equipment. A nurse at the Awe General Hospital, Ovey Polycarp, said the two pregnant women initially presented symptoms similar to malaria, which later worsened into bleeding and haemorrhage, leading to their deaths. She added that staff are working in fear due to the absence of protective gear.
However, the Director of Public Health at the Nasarawa State Ministry of Health, Dr Peter Attah, stated that only one confirmed case of Lassa fever was recorded in Awe, explaining that the patient died before laboratory confirmation was completed.