An outbreak of Lassa fever was reported when the Chief Medical Director of National Hospital Abuja (NHA), Dr Olusegun Ajuwon, confirmed that one patient from the Federal Capital Territory, and two others from the adjoining Nasarawa State, were brought to the NHA for treatment after being diagnosed with Lassa fever.
It is an acute viral hemorrhagic fever that was first discovered in 1969 in the town of Lassa in Borno State. The virus is transmitted through contact with the faeces and urine of rodents, particularly the shrew. The fever had become endemic in West Africa, causing up to 5,000 deaths annually.
Lassa fever, which can be transmitted through direct contact with infected human blood, urine or solid waste can also be contracted through an air-borne route. Therefore gloves, masks, laboratory coats and goggles are recommended for use while in contact with an infected person. Symptoms of Lassa fever, according to medical experts, include nausea, vomiting of blood, stomach ache, constipation, hepatitis, abnormally high heart beat rate and respiratory tract cough.
Reports indicate that the outbreak of Lassa fever usually occurs between January and April as a result of bush burning during which rodents are forced out of the bushes and made to move to houses close to the bushy environment. Refuse dumps in residential areas are also convenient places for the breeding and survival of rodents.
Although the control of rodent population may not easily be achievable in Nigeria now due to lack of a deliberate government policy of providing a disease-free environment, members of the public are advised to store their foodstuff and water in rat-proof containers. Government, especially at the local level, owes the populace a duty to educate them through enlightenment campaigns on how best to handle their foods and water.
Farmers and other Nigerians who live in the hinterland, should be discouraged from drying their grains at the roadsides because the urine and faeces of rodents can get into them, and consequently lead to the transmission of the Lassa fever virus.
Lassa fever is a seasonal disease whose period of outbreak is well known to government as well as environmental health officials. What is disturbing appears to be the failure, on the part of government, to enlighten the Nigerian public before the approach of the season, on the precautions required of them to forestall any outbreak.
The enlightenment campaign on Lassa fever, which is currently being organized is more or less an act of “better late than never”. The mentality of most government functionaries, to wait until a problem that could have been forestalled is fully at hand before doing what ought to be done has not only become a tradition, but still persists as a practice cherished by unpatriotic government officials. There must be a change of attitude from those who harbour this kind of unwholesome habit.
Daily Trust advises government to handle environmental sanitation with more seriousness in place of the levity with which it is currently managed. Sanitation officers, especially at the local government level, should be empowered with adequate working tools, including refuse disposal trucks, with a view to ensuring that our environment is free from ugly heaps of refuse, which are basically where rodents live and survive outside the bushes.
Concerned government agencies must live up to their responsibilities, especially at the local and municipal levels through the prompt clearing of refuse dump sites. Environmental laws should also be enforced by concerned agencies and officials such that erring residents are made to suffer the consequences of their actions. Let’s keep our environments clean. A deadly disease like Lassa fever can not keep recurring if we are serious about environmental sanitation. It is the first step to a healthy nation.