Lagos University Teaching Hospital, LUTH have confirmed two patients, whose cases were presented late has died from Lassa fever. The Chief Medical Director, Chris Bode, while confirming the incident said no less than 100 hospital workers from different hospitals who had been exposed to the patients are also under close monitoring. One of the dead victims, a 32 years old pregnant woman with bleeding disorder, died after a still birth and already had a post-mortem examination conducted on her before her Lassa status was confirmed.
This had exposed a lot of people to the disease especially the pathologist who performed the post-mortem. A resident doctor on the pathological team from the Department of Anatomic and Molecular Pathology is also believed to have been infected with the disease and is currently under admission at the LUTH isolation centre.
Mr. Bode, who visited the isolation centre, urged all LUTH workers to maintain heightened level of alert in the wake of this outbreak and observe universal precautions in handling all suspected cases of viral haemorrhagic fever.
He said the teaching hospital has been working closely with officials of the Lagos State Ministry of Health and the Federal Ministry of Health to contain this present Lassa fever outbreak by mobilising human and material resources to trace the sources and extent of the disease, follow up on potential contacts, identify early and test suspected cases,” he said.
