As a mother, you must be on the alert about the presence of Lassa fever in many parts of Nigeria with the most recent being Lagos.
Two patients being treated for Lassa fever at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital, LUTH, have been confirmed dead.
Both patients whose cases were presented late were said to have died within few days of admission despite all efforts to save them.
The Chief Medical Director, LUTH, Chris Bode, while confirming the incident on Tuesday, said no less than 100 hospital workers from different hospitals who had been exposed to the patients are currently under close monitoring.
One of the dead victims, a 32-year-old pregnant woman with bleeding disorder, died after a stillbirth and already had a post-mortem examination conducted on her before her Lassa status was confirmed.
This has exposed a lot of people to the disease especially the pathologist who performed the post-mortem.
As a mum, here are a few things you must know about Lassa fever and how to protect your family from contacting this deadly disease.
Signs and symptoms of Lassa fever include:
-General weakness, muscle and joint pains, prostration and malaise headache, sore throat, muscle pain, chest pain, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, cough, and abdominal pain.
In severe cases, facial swelling, fluid in the lung cavity, bleeding from the mouth, nose, vagina or gastrointestinal tract and low blood pressure may develop.
So how do you protect yourself and your family from contracting this deadly disease?
- Practice good environmental hygiene through proper disposal of wastes.
- Store of food in tight containers.
- Cite garbage dump far from homes to eradicate rat population.
- Do not litter your homes, because the rodents(rats) hide and feed on waste materials that litter the environment.
- Steering clear of rats and rat excrement is good practice at all times
- Ensure that no food is exposed to rodents since the urine and body fluid of rodents are the key things, which cause Lassa fever transmission.
- Do not to drink directly from a canned drink and also ensure that your family, friends and children do not do so too. It can be dangerous because you don’t know whether rats have urinated on them in the process of storage.
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Do not to drink directly from a canned drink and do ensure that your family, friends and children do not do so. It can be dangerous because you don’t know whether rats have urinated on them in the process of storage.
- It is important that we use soap and water to clean the openings of those things before they are served to people.
There is currently no vaccine that protects against Lassa fever.
In case of suspected cases in Lagos, the following numbers can be notified -08058019466, 08058744780, 07035521015 and 08023299445.
