Residents of Lafia and Awe local government areas in Nasarawa State were alarmed after six individuals suspected of Lassa fever exposure escaped from the Federal University of Lafia Teaching Hospital Isolation Center.
The patients were brought to the facility after possible contact with a patient who died nine days earlier from symptoms suspected to be Lassa fever.
Blood samples were sent to a reference lab at the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (NCDC) in Abuja, with results expected within three days.
Before the results were released, the patients reportedly left the hospital due to complaints about food, raising fears of potential disease spread. A joint team from the ministry and the hospital traced them to a relative’s home in Lafia and ensured they had no contact with others.
Director of Public Health at the State Ministry of Health, Petter Attah, confirmed that all six later tested negative. He clarified that the initial deceased patient and his wife were not confirmed to have had Lassa fever and noted that only one confirmed Lassa death, a pregnant woman from Awe LGA, occurred.
A ministry official in Awe added that three deaths were linked to the outbreak, prompting the temporary closure and fumigation of the General Hospital in Awe.
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