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| Multimamate |
Lassa fever outbreak: Bassa LGA records
five deaths as expert warns against taking corpses of victims to Church or
Mosque.
By Joseph A. Adudu
March 04.2019
Dr.
Jeremiah Aboi Madaki has confirmed five death cases from the dreaded Lassa fever
in Bassa Local Government Area of Plateau state North Central Nigeria. Madaki,
a professor of family medicine with the Jos University Teaching Hospital (JUTH)
made this known to African Drum
immediately after the burial of one of the victims of lassa fever, Pastor
Daniel Joseph Aku in Zagun Village, Bassa LGA last week.
Since January 2019, Nigeria has been
witnessing outbreaks of Lassa. The Nigeria centre for disease control last week
said since the onset of the 2019 outbreak, the country has recorded 83 deaths
in confirmed cases of the disease.
According
to professor Madaki, Lassa fever is a viral hemorrhagic fever. A disease caused
by a rat called the multimamate rat or mastomys Natalensis. He said that the
disease is gotten from contact with faeces or urine of the said rat specie
which according to him, has multiple breast tissue that also differentiate it
from other rat species.
The
expert added that the contamination of the secretions of this rat specie with
food can easily give rise to the disease stressing that there is a 21 day incubation
period after when symptoms would manifest which usually include fever,
headache, rashes on the body, general body illness, bleeding from the teeth gum
or from any other part of the body.
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| Burial of one of victims of Lassa in Bassa |
“It
is a disease that affects almost all organs of the body. There is an epidemic
now and from the information I have gathered, five people have been confirmed
death in Bassa. Though, the victims were not necessarily indigenes of Bassa.
Some contracted the disease elsewhere but ended up in Bassa Local Government
Area. We have just buried another victim here. He was a Pastor who has been
working with EMS and contracted the disease somewhere in Southern Kaduna. It
was confirmed at Bingham University Teaching Hospital where he died 14 days
after. Though there are other hemorrhagic fevers, but this particular one is
disturbing our environment so much at the moment,” he said.
Professor
Madaki stated that confirmed infected persons are usually isolated in the
hospital from other patients for proper treatment. According to him, “The good
thing is that it if is detected earlier, and with good support and treatment,
the victim gets cured of the disease.”
The
professor’s advice, especially to those that have come in contact with the
victims of Lassa is that they should watch their health closely within the next
21 days whether they would come up with any of the symptoms. “And if it is so,
I advise that such people should visit the nearest health professional. Of
course, in terms of causes of fever, malaria remains the commonest cause of
fever in this part of the world. However, one should not take chances
especially those that have come in contact with any victim of Lassa fever in
previous days because it is only in a hospital after the result of series of
tests conducted that would determined whether it is malaria or Lassa”, said
Madaki.
Professor strongly advised against taking
corpses of Lassa victims to Churches or Mosque. As a matter of fact, he advised
that such corpses should be buried immediately stressing that even those that
must get in contact with such corpses during burial must be people who are
prepared and equipped with what he called “Personal Protective Equipment (PPE).
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| Professor Madaki of the Jos University Teaching Hospital |
He
commended the efforts of Plateau State Government aimed at controlling the
spread of the disease. “Good enough the Plateau State Government is carrying
out a lot of advocacy on this to create awareness to the public on what the
disease is all about.
The
state Government as I am aware has also made arrangement at the Epidemiological
Unit where an ambulance is provided to convey corpses of victims and also undertakes
some support towards the burial so that the corpse is not kept for too long and
to also avoid many contracts with it. As precautionary measures to avoid the
disease, he said all foods must always be properly covered; foods should be
heat before eating. People should improved on their personal hygiene by washing
their hands regularly and to always clear the bushes around the environment to
reduce the level of contact with this specie of the rat.
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