Four persons , including two pregnant women have died of a disease suspected to be Lassa fever in Awe Local Government Area of Nasarawa State.
Consequently, authorities have closed down the General Hospital in Awe and placed the health workers including the Medical Superintendent under isolation as a precautionary measure.
Speaking in an interview on Thursday, the Disease Surveillance Officer, Ahmad Abdullahi said the incident was first recorded of a woman who attended a health facility in Awe with Lassa fever symptoms and died before treatment could begin.
Days later, he added, her husband developed identical signs and also died.
According to the Officer, “Poor handling of suspected cases is one of the biggest hurdles we face in outbreak control,”
Abdullahi noted that, several suspected patients transferred to Lafia for isolation mysteriously escaped fueling greater fear..
“None of the Disease Surveillance Officers across the 13 Local Government Areas of Nasarawa State has been provided with motorcycles by the government, which is affecting prompt response to remote areas.
” The state government sent an ambulance to Awe to convey six suspected cases for isolation in Lafia, but they were allowed to escape even before the laboratory test results were released,” he said.
On her part, Nurse Ovey Polycarp, who works at the Awe General Hospital, pleaded for immediate supply of personal protective equipment (PPE).
“The two women were admitted almost simultaneously with what looked like malaria but quickly progressed to severe bleeding and haemorrhage, killing them both. We’re living in terror because we lack the gear to safely treat these patients,” she lamented.
Dr. Peter Attah, Director of Public Health at the Nasarawa State Ministry of Health, clarified that only one case has been officially confirmed by laboratory testing and that the patient died before the result was released.
Meanwhile, fumigation teams are currently sanitising the Awe General Hospital to prevent further spread to nearby residents.
