Lassa Fever in Nigeria
The burden and socio-medical response so far
Keywords:
Lassa fever, Socio-medical, Burden of disease, Disease outbreak, Nigeria Centre for Disease ControlAbstract
In recent time, Nigerians have been plagued by one of the most dreaded virus disease; Lassa fever within the West Africa continents. The aim of this review therefore, is to assess the socio-medical response of Lassa fever in Nigeria. Data for this study were sourced from the Nigeria Center for Disease Control monthly report from 5th January to 30thNovember 2020.The incidence of Lassa fever is currently growing in Nigeria as the current Outbreak supersedes previous outbreaks in community transmission. So far the country has recorded overall case fatality ratio of between 1-15% among patients who are hospitalized with severe illness within the space of 11 months of the year 2020 outbreak in Nigeria. This paper presents a concise response framework to highlight some specific multi-sectoral response to Lassa fever virus outbreak in Nigeria. A combination of social and medical response to a large extent is helping Nigeria curtail the spread of the virus. Currently, the potentials of Lassa fever are very much present and still eminent in Nigeria as the number of cases is increasing with no effort put in place to enhance proper sanitation and clean environment by government and the citizens. This could mean sacrificing public health gains for selfish interest.
