TheCable

Isaac Adewole, minister of health, says isolation centres are being activated in various hospitals to curb the spread of Lassa fever while every useful information on the virus will be provided to the public.

Speaking with TheCable on the recent outbreak of the disease in Abuja, the minister said call contacts of the index case were being traced, but added that no one had been quarantined.

“That case (the first case of Lassa fever in Abuja)  is not indigenous to Abuja. The young man took ill in Plateau and came to Abuja because he felt he needed help. Unfortunately, the health facility that kept him for one week did not pick up the warning signals, and only referred the man when he was unconscious,” Adewole explained.

“The man died within 24 hours of admission at the national hospital. So, what we are doing is to trace and test everyone in that hospital. We are also investigating how they missed the signal. As soon as we have report, we make it public. We will not hide anything. And we tracing all the contacts, and stepping up communication with the public.

“Healthcare workers have to be more careful. We lost a doctor in Rivers state two days ago. This is the first healthcare practitioner to be affected. We are warning all our healthcare workers to take care and put on their protective gears when they are managing cases of any of the viral hemorrhagic fevers.

“For every case that we pick, we will trace all their contacts so that will not miss anything. We are activating all our isolation units in the various hospitals to be on the alert, but nobody has been quarantined so far.”

Forty-one people have been killed by the viral disease since its outbreak in November, 2015 in Bauchi.