15 persons have been confirmed to have had contact with Miss Aisha Jimoh aged 18, a patient from Kogi State who died of Lassa Fever on Monday at Irua Specialist Hospital, Edo State.
Kogi State Commissioner for health, Dr. Saka Audu, on Tuesday said one of the brother to late Aisha Jimoh is already showing symptoms of the disease, stressing that he will be transfer to Irua in Edo State General hospital.
He added that officials are trying to track others that had contact with the deceased.
“It is a sad incidence and our Rapid Respond Team (RRT) has commenced work. We are currently tracing all those who had contact with the patient before the patient was transferred to Irua”, Audu said.
“We already have an alert contact list of about 15 people and we are monitoring them on daily basis to make sure we curtail further spread in the state.
“One of the patient we are monitoring is currently manifesting signs and symptoms that could be suggestive of Lassa Fever. But samples will be taken today and would be sent to the designated laboratory for confirmation.
“We have decided to create a transit camp for some of these patients who have shown one or two signs suggestive of the viral hemorrhagic fever before being tendered to the centre in Edo State ” Dr Audu added.
Meanwhile, it has been established that late Miss Aisha contracted the disease in Ondo State.
Dr Jones Taiwo, the Head of Clinical Services (HCS) of Federal Medical Centre (FMC), Lokoja, who made this known during an interview with journalists in Lokoja, stressed that the late Aisha Jimoh might have contracted the disease in Owo, Ondo State.
According to him, she was in Owo two weeks earlier and took ill as soon as she returned with her brother to Gadumo, Lokoja.
He said that the first case they earlier had at FMC Lokoja in April was also from Owo area and confirmed positive to Lassa Fever at Irua Specialist Hospital, Edo State.
“The boy from Kogi Central, who lived in Owo and was preparing for NYSC Orientation Camp, suddenly had fever in Owo and came to Okene where he was brought to FMC Lokoja.
“But the situation was very bad when he came and the samples were collected and sent to Edo State where it was confirmed positive.
“But it was unfortunate that the patient died within 12 hours. The teenage female patient that died on Monday of Lassa Fever also came from Owo and took ill while with her brother at Gadumo and was brought to FMC when the condition became critical.
“I follow the stories from Owo axis and they have recorded some cases of Lassa Fever recently.
“So, there is every reason to suspect that the female patient contracted the disease from Owo in Ondo State,” Taiwo said.
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