Kogi Lassa fever patient dies

The woman in Kogi, Miss Aisha Jimoh, who was confirmed to have contracted Lassa fever is dead.

A brother to the deceased, Mr Asipita Jimoh, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lokoja that Aisha, 18, died in the early hours of Monday at the Irua General Hospital in Edo, where she was rushed to.

Asipita said that his family was contacted on the development, shortly after Aisha, a student of the Muslim Community Secondary School, Lokoja, gave up the ghost.

Asipita, who spoke to NAN at his family house at Gadumo Layout in Lokoja, said that Aisha’s sickness started about five days ago.

He said that the lady was taken to the Federal Medical Centre (FMC), Lokoja from where she was transferred to the General Hospital in Edo.

“We lost our parents about two years ago and we have lost our sister again,” Asipita cried.

He said that other members of the Jimoh family would need medical assistance to stop the spread of the disease.

NAN recalls that authorities at FMC Lokoja, had on Sept. 3, suspected that Aisha might have been suffering from Lassa fever and had, consequently, referred her to the General Hospital, Irua for confirmatory test and treatment.

The Kogi Commissioner for Health, Dr Saka Audu, later told NAN that Aisha had tested positive to Lassa fever.

Audu said that the State Government was working on tracking people who might have had contact with Aisha.

On Aug. 17, the Kogi Government debunked reports of an outbreak of Lassa fever in the state.

There were reports previously of an outbreak of a strange disease in Okuran, Okoloke and Isanlu in the Yagba West Local Government Area of the state. (NAN)