Lassa fever kills mother, child in Port Harcourt

A nursing mother and her two-week-old baby have died of Lassa fever in Port Harcourt, Rivers State.
Commissioner of Health, Dr. Theophilus Odagme, confirmed the development to newsmen on Monday evening.

Odagme stated: “First incident happened between December 30, 2015, and January 1, to a mother and later to her two weeks old child.

“Yesterday, at about 10:00 pm, I received a call that a mother and child died in a hospital following similar and serious fever which killed them and was suspected to be Lassa fever. After series of test conducted on them, it was confirmed they died of the disease.”

Dr. Odagme said government had started work with the World Health Organisation (WHO) to prevent outbreak of the disease in the state.

He added that contact tracing had begun and sensitisation of health care providers was ongoing to address the disease.

The commissioner further appealed to residents with symptoms of the disease to visit any nearest government hospital around them for diagnosis.

He also urged residents to maintain high sense of hygiene, identifying some of the symptoms of the ailment as high fever, vomiting, bleeding from the nose, mouth and anus.

Dr. Odagme advised members of the public to ensure their food and foodstuffs were properly covered to avoid contact with rodents.