Abiodun Onafuye/Abeokuta
Rats: primary carriers of Lassa fever virus
The health condition of the lady diagnosed to be Lassa fever patient in Ogun state is perfectly encouraging, as she is fast responding to treatment and now stable to eat and drink without any symptoms of vomiting or diarrhea.
This was the statement made by the Senior Registrar, Internal Medicine Department, ( OOUTH), Dr. Olaitan Abimbola, who is directly attending to the lady that was on admission at the Olabisi Onabanjo University Teaching Hospital, OOUTH, Sagamu while briefing the State Commissioner for Health, Dr. Babatunde Ipaye on the condition of the victim.
Ipaye, who was at the teaching hospital Saturday morning to ascertain the level of response to treatment of the lady, also disclosed that the number of primary contacts to the victim has increased from 60 to 110.
He stated that the increase was due to the fact that all those that had been on admission before and after the lady in question, was brought into the two private hospitals had also been tracked down and placed under close surveillance.
The Commissioner declared that “if not for the pro-activeness of the state government and the prompt information by owners of both Central Specialist and Rubee hospitals to the Ministry of Health, the situation would have escalated.”
He added that all the 110 persons have been given a thermometer each to monitor the level of their temperature with one Surveillance Officer attached to each of them.
While thanking the two private hospitals, the Commissioner revealed that the hospitals have been decontaminated by the state health workers and would be reopening as soon as possible.
He stated that the state government regrets any indirect inconveniences the issues might have caused the hospitals.
In her response to how far the lady was responding to treatment, Dr. Olaitan Abimbola said, she was brought in with a confirmed case of Lassa fever with temperature of 39.8 degrees centigrade, adding that, by the time she was being administered the required drugs, the temperature had reduced to 38. 4.
“The persistence abdominal pain, restlessness, breathlessness have gone down drastically. She can now eat and drink with no sign of vomiting, diarrhea and no discharge from any part of the body.
“The victim has since been placed on Revavirin and other drugs and will be monitored until she has completed the 10 doses of Revavirin. Now that she is perfectly responding to treatment and no more abdominal pain, dizziness and any other complication, then, she will be handed over to the Surveillance Officer for further necessary actions,” Dr. Abimbola said.
Speaking with our correspondent, the Permanent Secretary, State Ministry of Health, Dr. Nafiu Aigoro, said that the present administration in the state will never rest on its oars, considering the fact that some neighbouring states have been infected with the disease.
He said that Surveillance Officers and Health workers had been put on red alert, even before the first case was recorded in the state.
Also speaking, the Director of Public Health in the Ministry, Dr. Yusuf Qudus, confirmed that the lady was fast responding to treatment, compared to when she was brought in with so many complications.
Qudus declared that the over 100 persons under surveillance would be watched closely between 6-21 days incubation period, before they can be released to their family members.
The first case of Lassa fever was recorded in the state on 3 February, 2016.
Lassa fever: Ogun victim responds to treatment
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