The Ogun Commissioner for Health Dr. Babtunde Ipaye, has said that 396 people have been declared free of Lassa Fever according to the World Health Organisation (WHO) standard, after being placed under surveillance.
The persons were said to have had primary and secondary contacts with the Assistant Chief Nursing Officer of Federal Medical Centre (FMC) Idi- Aba in Abeokuta, who died of Lassa fever in December 2016.
Ipaye also revealed that 19 close contacts to another new suspected Lassa fever case, came out negative after been tested.
The Commissioner, who made this disclosure during an interview in his office with Journalists at Oke- Mosan in Abeokuta, explained that during the process of monitoring the 396 contacts, another suspected case was recorded with about 50 contacts traced to the victim.
According to him, the blood samples of the 19 primary contacts out of the 50, were then tested and confirmed to be negative.
Ipaye said the suspected victim who later died at University College Hospital, (UCH) in Ibadan, cannot be counted for Ogun State, saying that the remaining 39 secondary contacts have been placed under close monitoring with one thermometer and health officer attached to each of them to monitor their temperature.
He added that so far, none of the contacts have shown abnormal temperature since they began monitoring and that the medical officers attached to each of the contacts would continue to monitor until the specified period in line with the World Health Organisation (WHO) standard, is exceeded before they could be medically adjudged to be free of the disease.
The Health Commissioner said the 39 contacts would in less than a week, be declared free to include the 19 close contacts that were tested nagative.
He then urged members of the public not to panic, while assuring citizens that the government was on top of the situation.
He also stressed the need for the people to cultivate high level of hygiene, keep food items away from rats and get rid of all kind of rats in and around their environment.
Dr. Ipaye also advised members of the public to report any case of malaria symptoms that may have exceeded three days of treatment to the nearest General Hospital.
