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No fewer than 25 children have been confirmed dead following an outbreak of the Febrile Rash Illnesses (FRI) in Otodo-Gbame community in Ikate, Lekki.  At a news conference in Lagos today February 19th, the Lagos state commissioner for Health, Jide Idris, said though the source of the disease is still unknown, 34 cases of sick children with FRI is currently being treated while the graves of 20 children have been identified by their parents. “The graves of 20 children who died from the FRI since the day of onset of signs and symptoms in the first case on January 6 were identified by their parents. Also, 34 cases have been line listed so far with 17 males and 17 females; 17 dead patients have been identified with nine males and eight females, all are within the age range of eight and 72 months. The source of the infection is still under investigation and until we know the required source, we cannot say for sure, what is causing it.”he said He disclosed that the first ca...

After the doctors/police clash that happened last week in Owerri, angry doctors in the state have declared a three day closure of all private and public hospitals in the state to protest the cruel treatment by the police in Imo & also the ill treatment of Gov.Rochas Okorocha's administration.  The doctors who protested last week against the management of public hospitals and poor treatment of health workers by the state government, complained bitterly over the treatment of the police during the incident in which some doctors were allegedly shot by the police.  The association said that the closure of the hospitals was to express their grievances against the action of the police and the management of public hospitals by Gov. Okorocha. NMA Chairman, Dr Hyacinth Emele and Secre­tary, Kyrian Duruewuru issued a press statement.  Read it below... "The association condemns the action of the police,  the police acted the script of so...

MINISTER of Health Prof. Isaac Adewole yesterday shocked members of the Senate Committee on Health when he informed the committee that the original budget of his ministry had been largely distorted. He claimed that strange figures were smuggled into the budget. The minister’s revelation might have reinforced the Senate’s claim that the 2016 budget had been tampered with. The minister urged the committee to discard the budget proposal before it and await a new estimate to be re- submitted today. He assured members of the committee that the new proposal would reflect the programmes of the health sector for the year. Adewole’s revelation forced Chairman of the Senate Committee on Health, Senator Lanre Tejuosho, to convene a closed door session with the minister apparently to discuss the development. The minister told the committee that there were some health issues on which conclusions had not been made by the ministry and yet allocations were made on them w...

A member of the Nigeria Medical Association (NMA), Imo State branch, participating in a peaceful demonstration against the concession of public health institutions by Governor Rochas Okorocha was on Thursday shut in the head. The victim, Dr Bede Azudialor, a Consultant Physician with the Federal Medical Centre, Owerri, was allegedly shot in the head by anti-riot policemen drafted to monitor the demonstration by the doctors. NAN gathered that the victim was first rushed to the emergency unit of Federal Medical Centre (FMC), Owerri, from where he was moved to the intensive care unit (ICU) and thereafter relocated to an undisclosed hospital. The State Chairman of the Nigerian Guild of Medical Doctors, Dr. Darlington Akukwu, who briefed newsmen on the incident in Owerri, announced the commencement of a three-day warning strike by doctors in the state following the incident. “Following the shooting of our member, doctors in Imo State will from today commence a three-...

The Ogun state government, on Thursday, said it has recorded the first case of Lassa fever in the state.  Making this known was the Commissioner for Health, Babatunde Ipaye, at a press conference held on Thursday at the Oke Mosan Press center in Abeokuta.  According to the Commissioner, the case is that of a 28-year-old lady, discovered on Wednesday, February 3 at 8:10p.m.  The lady was said to have travelled to Ebonyi for a burial programme and returned to Ogun on January 15. He added that the victim had passed through two medical facilities before being transferred to the Olabisi Onabanjo University Teaching Hospital, one of the isolation centers for the fever.  “The confirmatory test was done and the result came in last night. We started emergency procedures immediately and she has been moved to the isolation Centre in Sagamu.  “She has been given the drug, rivavirim and still under observation. She has had fever and other symptom...

The Lagos State Government on Wednesday said it was doing everything possible to defeat the deadly Lassa fever like it did during the outbreak of Ebola virus, just as it urged residents of the state to be on red alert by embracing personal and environmental hygiene.  The government also advised residents to block all holes in their homes through which rats could gain entrance, and also refrain from eating rat meat as well as any food already contaminated with urine, saliva and faeces of infected rat.  While briefing journalists on the update of the Lassa fever cases in the State, Commissioner for Health, Dr. Jide Idris, confirmed that so far, the state has recorded 20 suspected cases, out of which 14 tested negative, while 4 cases were confirmed positive.  Idris, who addressed the media alongside the Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Mr. Steve Ayorinde and the Special Adviser to the Governor on Primary Healthcare, Dr. Olufemi Onanuga, said thre...

Ogun State government said yesterday that it had placed 19 people, including a female undergraduate student of Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta (FUNNAB) suspected to have contacted the Lassa fever under contact watch.  The Commissioner for Health, Dr. Babtunde Ipaye who spoke at a press conference in Abeokuta, the State capital said the undergraduate had contact with the “index case” recorded in Ahmadiyyah Hospital in Ojokoro area of Lagos state. According to him, the 18 other cases are workers of the same hospital but reside in Ogun State. Ipaye said the undergraduate (name withheld) had been given thermometer to monitor her temperature while other cases have a “Disease Surveillance and Notification officers attached to each of them.”  The Commissioner explained that two suspected cases of lassa were reported last week in the state but that clinical examinations did not support the fever.  Ipaye explained that the first case of a seven ye...

The Environmental Health Officers Association of Nigeria (EHOAN), Lagos State Chapter, on Monday said that it had destroyed no fewer than 4,400 rats at six major markets in the state under its de-rat market programme. Its president, Mr Samuel Akingbehin, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) that his association carried out the exercise at Onigongbo, Oshodi, Oke-Odo, Ikotun Idanwo, Ojuwoye and Mile 12 Markets. He said that de-rating the markets was part of the association’s efforts to curb the spread of Lassa fever in the state. “The exercise is strategic in our effort toward the prevention of communicable diseases,’’ he said. NAN reports that this was part of efforts by the public and relevant agencies to de-rat markets that were the causes of the Lassa fever that had broken out in many states. The disease, since its outbreak, had killed at least 76 victims and over 200 cases across 17 out of the 36 states are quarantined and under observations. Akingbe...

One of the three patients suffering from Lassa Fever in Lagos has died, the state government confirmed on Friday, January 22. The state Commissioner for Health, Dr. Jide Idris, who announced the development, said the deceased will be buried later on Friday. Idris also revealed that as at January 21, 14 suspected cases of Lassa Fever has been recorded in the state, adding that the Ministry of health has shortlisted 447 contacts of the confirmed cases and 438 (98 per cent) of the contacts who are currently being monitored. “Three of the suspected cases were confirmed positive of Lasssa Fever. One case was confirmed on January 15 and two cases were confirmed on January 18.  Eight suspected cases tested negative, while we are awaiting results for the remaining three suspected cases”, the Commissioner said. He said the late victim was a 51-year-old man and lived in Ilasan,  Lekki, Lagos state and returned from Edo whe...

Osun State Government said it has placed 55 people that had contact with a doctor at the Obafemi Awolowo University Teaching Hospital Ile-Ife who died from Lassa fever under surveillance. The Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Health, Dr Temitope Olalekan Oladele said this on Thursday in Osogbo and assured the people of the state of the readiness of the state government to contain the disease. He said the state is collaborating with relevant institutions in the health sector including local government doctors and all health care workers prepared to battle the disease. He however urged the people to stop eating rat, and avoid having contacts with rats’ droppings. The management of the Obafemi Awolowo University Teaching Hospital Complex said on Wednesday that a laboratory test confirmed that a resident doctor’s death at the hospital was caused by Lassa fever. More than 63 people have died of the disease in the latest outbreak which st...

Some indigenes in areas that consider rat meat a delicacy are at the forefront of the risk of spreading Lassa fever to the general population. This information was gleaned by us whilst monitoring a program on Channels TV Evening News. A local seen in an alternative meats market in Benue State whilst being interviewed by Channels TV correspondent protested the proposed ban on rat meat by government in order to curb the spread of the disease. The man seemingly frustrated with the mulled ban said “why does government want to come and ban the only meat that is available for the poor man to enjoy?

One of the world's richest men, Bill Gates is at the moment in KADUNA STATE, Nigeria. Bill Gates who arrived the country to sign a Memorandum of Understanding, MoU, with the Dangote foundation on routine immunization was received by the State Governor, Mallam Nasiru El'Rufai and the Sokoto State Governor, Aminu Tambuwal. Aliko Dangote has now joined them alongside four other Governors, Governors of Borno, Kano, Bauchi and Yobe also with the Sultan of Sokoto and the Emir of Kano. What a big welcome. See more photos below.

The Federal Government said on Tuesday that Lassa fever has claimed 63 lives out of 212 suspected reported cases from 62 local government areas in 17 affected states. Minister of Health Prof. He noted that 17 states have been affected. The state governor, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode, assured the residents of the state on the containment of Lassa fever at the 2nd quarterly town hall meeting he addressed at Lagos City Hall, Lagos Island yesterday. The minister said he received a text that a Lassa fever patient escaped from a health facility in Ebonyi while undergoing treatment. There is no known vaccine for the virus, leaving the only way of preventing it as being far away from the vector of the virus that causes it - rats - as much as possible.  It is better to over-count suspected cases than to under-count. An atmosphere of fear had enveloped the Obafemi Awolowo University community as news of the doctor's demise filtered around. A medical doctor in the hospit...

There is palpable fear  among residents of Osun State about the spread of Lassa fever following the death of a doctor at the Obafemi Awolowo University Teaching Hospitals Complex, Ile Ife. Our correspondent gathered that the  deceased, who returned from Ondo State with Illness was admitted in the intensive care unit of the hospital. He was said to be vomiting blood and showing other symptoms associated with the Lassa fever before he  died  on Monday. A source at the hospital said, “The doctor just returned from Ondo State and he became ill. He was admitted on Sunday and he died on Monday.  I was told that he showed symptoms similar to Lassa fever. “The hospital has started contact tracking and some of the nurses and workers have been placed under observation.” The chairman of a committee set up by the OAUTHC on Lassa fever, Prof. Adedeji Onayade, when contacted on the telephone by our correspondent said ...

As states and the federal government intensify efforts to contain the spread of Lassa fever, the Ekiti State government on Monday confirmed a case of the virus in the state. The state’s Commissioner for Health, Dr. Olurotimi Ojo said the index case; a female student of the School of Nursing, was at the Federal University Teaching Hospital, Ido Ekiti and was responding to treatment. It was learnt that the patient was admitted to hospital on Sunday and treated for Malaria and Typhoid fever without any corresponding improvement in her health condition. The latest outbreak of Lassa fever has killed more than 40 people since November 2015 including a medical doctor in Rivers State. Ekiti is now the 12th state where Lassa fever has been confirmed. Dr. Ojo, however, said there was no cause for  alarm as the situation was under control and the  patient placed in the isolation ward.

A physician, Dr Emmanuel Onyeka, has advised Nigerians against the habit of drinking raw eggs to prevent easy transfer of the bird flu virus to humans. Onyeka, who is a staff of the Veterinary Services Department of the Enugu State Ministry of Agriculture, gave the advice in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Monday in Enugu.  He spoke against the backdrop of the recent resurgence of bird flu in parts of the country.  “Everybody should disinfect eggs bought in the market, even before cooking or frying them, to meet eating condition. “Those in the habit of breaking and drinking raw eggs, for whatever reasons, are taking a very big risk of contracting bird flu,’’ the medical expert warned.  Onyeka said that though there were few known cases of humans contracting the disease in the country,“nevertheless, everybody should play his or her part so that the disease does not take another dimension’’ he said.

Chairman of the NMA in Rivers state, Furo Green, has disclosed that Doctor Living Jamala of the Obstetrics and Gynaecology department in the Braithwait Specialist Hospital has died after having contact with a patient of Lassa Fever. He said the authorities of BMH and NMA as well as Rivers state Ministry were working with experts from the World Health Organisation, WHO, to curb the menace. Speaking with DAILY POST correspondent, the Head of Obstetrics and Gynaecology department in BMH, Woke Alexander said the victim who infected the deceased Doctor was a pregnant woman. Alexander said Doctor Jamala like every other Doctor, was making efforts to save the life of the pregnant woman and her baby. He said, “When the pregnant woman came in, the late Doctor Jamala had to rush to assist to take her through a possible caesarian session. He broke all protocols of payment and other hitches just to make sure he delivers the baby for the woman. “That departm...

Nigerian health authorities have announced the death of a Lassa fever victim in Abuja, the first fatality in the nation’s capital since the latest outbreak in November 2015.  The minister of health, Isaac Adewole, made the announcement Wednesday evening at the National Hospital, the press director, Boade Akinola, at the health ministry, said in a statement. The medical director of the hospital, Jack Momoh, who briefed the minister, said the patient was brought in unconscious from a private hospital in Kubwa, a suburb of Abuja, where he had been admitted for eight days. The 33-year-old newly married lived in Jos, Plateau State, but travelled to see a family member in Kubwa because of his illness.  He however died within 24hours of presentation at the national hospital. The statement said the minister had directed that all primary and secondary contacts of the victim, including the staff of the private hospital in Kubwa, an Abuja suburb, where th...