TheCable

At least 396 persons have been placed on surveillance as a result of the death of Abolanle Adewuyi, an assistant chief nursing officer of the Federal Medical Center, Abeokuta, who reportedly died of Lassa fever.

Babatunde Ipaye, commissioner for health, disclosed this on Friday during the commissioning of a private hospital at Ifo in Ifo local government area of the state.

He said the people under surveillance had primary and secondary contacts with Adewuyi.

Ipaye explained that the primary contacts were mainly members of the victim’s family, while the secondary contacts were the co-workers in the hospital, where she died on Monday night.

Ipaye said none of the contacts had shown abnormal temperature since they have been on monitoring schedule.

He said the medical officers attached to each of the contacts would continue to monitor until the expiration of the specified period in line with the World Health Organisation (WHO), standard.

Ipaye said this period had to be exceeded before they could be medically adjudged to be free of the disease.

“All the 396 contacts have not shown any abnormal symptoms or signs of Lassa fever; their temperature is under control,” he said.

“We have stationed our monitoring officer with each of the contacts to continue monitoring throughout a specific period in line with the World Health Organisation standard.”

He urged members of the public not to panic, and assured them that government was on top of the situation.

Ipaye advised the people to cultivate high level of hygiene and keep their food away from rats.

He also asked them to report any case of malaria symptoms that may have exceeded three days to the nearest General Hospital, the ministry of health, Oke-Mosan, Abeokuta, or call 09099140121 and 09099140122.