2023-10-12 16:36:00
Au Nigeriasince the beginning of the year and until week 37 (week ending September 17), the country recorded:
7,352 suspected cases of Lassa fever; 1,068 confirmed cases; 181 deaths in confirmed cases (case fatality rate of 16.9%).
Twenty-eight states in the country are affected including Ondo, Edo, Bauchi and Anambra State and 75% of the confirmed cases were reported in the states ofOndod’Or and of Bauchi. The most affected age group is 21-30 years (Age range: 1 to 93 years, median age: 32 years). The male to female ratio for confirmed cases is 1:0.9.
The number of suspected cases increased compared to that reported for the same period in 2022 (7,352 vs 6,733).
The disease was first identified in Nigeria, in Borno State, in 1969 and is endemic in the country. The disease is transmitted throughout the year. However, large seasonal epidemics occur during the dry season, generally from December to April.
Reminders on the Lassa fever :
The Lassa fever is a hemorrhagic fever caused by Arénaviridae the virus Lassa. It is endemic in several West African countries, Nigeria, Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, where epidemic outbreaks occur regularly and affect 100 to 300,000 people per year, including 5 to 6,000 succumb.
The main virus reservoir Lassa is a small peri-domestic rodent called Mastomys natalensis.
The virus transmitted to humans by contact with food or household items contaminated by rodent urine or feces. A large number of these rodents live near or even inside homes, and their infection rate can be up to 80%. Contacts between humans and the infected reservoir are therefore very frequent in villages. The virus can also infect the body through a cut or wound or when infected rats are prepared as meals that are sold along the roads. Transmission occurs from human to human through direct contact with the blood, urine, excrement or other organic secretions of a contaminated person, particularly in a hospital context. Contact with the virus can also occur through inhalation of air contaminated with fine suspended particles that contain excretions. Transmission can be done at the level of analysis laboratories. Sexual transmission has been reported.
The clinical picture Lassa fever varies, from asymptomatic infection, which is very common (80% of cases) to severe hemorrhagic fever. The disease begins 6 to 21 days after infection with non-specific clinical signs: fever, vomiting, nausea, abdominal pain, headache, myalgia, arthralgia, asthenia. In severe cases, symptoms then worsen, with the appearance of edema, hemorrhagic signs, pericardial and pleural effusions, and more rarely encephalitis. The patient died in a context of hypotensive and hypovolemic shock and renal and hepatic failure.
Lassa fever is extremely serious for pregnant women, frequently leading to the death of the mother and systematically to that of the fetus.
No vaccine is currently not available. Today there is only one antiviral, ribavirinwhich must be administered very soon after the appearance of symptoms and whose effectiveness remains poorly demonstrated.
Source : Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention
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