Obaseki Wants Councils To Check Lassa Fever Epidemic

Governor Godwin Obaseki of Edo State last Monday charged chairmen of local government councils in the state to intensify the campaign on environmental sanitation and other efforts geared at mitigating resurgence of Lassa Fever in the state.
Obaseki gave the charge in Benin City, as a team of scientists working with staff of Irrua Specialist Teaching Hospital, made a breakthrough with a “rapid portable genomic sequencing technology to identify viruses without prior knowledge of the cause of the disease.”
In a statement by his Special Adviser on Media and Communications Strategy, Crusoe Osagie, the governor said that the state government had already rolled out a campaign to sensitise the public on how to prevent the spread of Lassa Fever.
He said that the state government had mobilised relevant health agencies and was working closely with a delegation of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) and the World Health Organisation (WHO), to reduce the chances of a resurgence of the ailment.
According to him, “It is no news that we are susceptible to Lassa Fever in some parts of the state, due to a number of factors. The risk of resurgence in Nigeria is high in the dry season, as people engage in bush burning.
“However, Edo State government has commenced an elaborate sensitisation campaign to ensure that the people are better informed on what can cause or spread Lassa Fever this season. We are aware of the resurgence in other states and are committed to stamping out the disease from our state.
“This is why the governor is calling on chairmen of local government areas, who are closest to the people, to ensure that this message gets to our people everywhere. They are to mobilise information units in their areas to take the message on how to prevent the disease to remote parts of the state.”
Meanwhile, a team of scientists working with staff of Irrua Specialist Teaching Hospital have made a breakthrough with a “rapid portable genomic sequencing technology to identify viruses without prior knowledge of the cause of the disease.”
The research led by scientists from Public Health England (UK), the Bernhard Nocht Institute of Tropical Medicine, Germany, in collaboration with the Nigeria Center for Disease Control (NCDC) and the World Health Organisation (WHO), has been described as a major breakthrough in Lassa Fever diagnosis.
The breakthrough is contained in a report published in the journal, Science.