Lassa Fever

This year marks 50 years since the identification of the virus causing Lassa disease in the village of Lassa, in Nigeria. It is a type of viral hemorrhagic fever, which is endemic in West Africa countries of Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Guinea, Liberia and Benin, and is causing up to 5,000 deaths a year. In 2018, Nigeria has experienced its largest recorded Lassa-Fever outbreak. An unprecedented feature in this epidemic was the 37 health care workers infected in eight states, nine of whom died. As of 3rd June 2018, a total of 1,982 suspected cases were reported from 22 of the 36 Nigeria states.