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Yellow, Lassa Fever Outbreaks In Nigeria Killed 43 In November – WHO

November 25, 2020

It added that Lagos State is a major concern because of the population movements towards urban centres in the country.

The World Health Organisation has warned that Nigeria is facing concurrent outbreaks of multiple pathogens such as the Yellow Fever and Lassa Fever which have killed at least 43 persons this month alone.

The WHO in a report titled, Diseases Outbreak News: Yellow Fever – Nigeria, released on Wednesday, pointed out Delta, Enugu, Benue, Ebonyi and Bauchi were the most affected states.

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It added that Lagos State is a major concern because of the population movements towards urban centres in the country. 

The international health organisation noted that while Delta had 33 deaths from 65 confirmed cases of Yellow Fever, Enugu State recorded ten deaths from Lassa Fever.

WHO said the most frequent symptoms "included high-grade fever, convulsion, and eventually coma, in addition to blood in the urine, mouth bleeding, bleeding in the respiratory tract, bloodshot eyes and pain in the flank."

WHO warned that the Covid pandemic could complicate the outbreaks.

"National and state authorities are currently focused on the COVID-19 pandemic, limiting the human resources required to conduct investigations and response activities for the YF outbreaks," the report pointed out.

"Recent relaxation of COVID-19 measures will increase population mobility, thereby increasing the risk for amplification of yellow fever, especially if introduced into urban centres."

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