72 dead in Nigeria from Lassa fever

Nigeria is facing its worst Lassa fever outbreak on record, with 72 people confirmed to be dead from the virus and 317 infected, according to the World Health Organization.

A further 764 are suspected to be infected, and 2,845 contacts have been identified.

On average, Lassa fever is deadly in 1% of all individuals infected, with higher rates of 15% morbidity among people hospitalized for the illness. As of Sunday, the case fatality ratio was 22%, according to the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control.


Although it's endemic to the country, Lassa fever numbers have never reached this proportion before, according to the WHO.

Nigeria's Centre for Disease Control said Wednesday that it was facing an "unprecedented outbreak" that has spread to 18 states since it began in January.

The disease can cause fever and hemorrhaging of various parts of the body -- including the eyes and nose -- and can be spread through contact with an infected rat. 

Person-to-person transmission is low but has been seen in Nigerian hospital settings this year. Fourteen health workers were infected, of whom four died within eight weeks.

The WHO said Wednesday that health facilities were overstretched in the southern states of Edo, Ondo and Ebonyi, and it is working with national reference hospitals and the Alliance for International Medical Action to rapidly expand and better equip treatment centers.
It also hopes to reduce further infections to hospital staff.

"The ability to rapidly detect cases of infection in the community and refer them early for treatment improves patients' chances of survival and is critical to this response," said Dr. Wondimagegnehu Alemu, the WHO representative to Nigeria.

State health authorities are mobilizing doctors and nurses to work in treatment centers. Four UK researchers have also been deployed to Nigeria to help control the unusually large outbreak. 

"Given the large number of states affected, many people will seek treatment in health facilities that are not appropriately prepared to care for Lassa fever," Alemu said.

"The risk of infection to health care workers is likely to increase."

Lassa fever is endemic in most of West Africa, especially Nigeria, where it was discovered in 1969.
Edo, Ondo and Ebonyi states account for 85% of cases, said Dr. Chikwe Ihekweazu, director of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control, in a statement.

According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, touching, eating or sniffing foods and other household items that have been contaminated by multimammate rat feces or urine can aid transmission.

Nigerians, especially in those three states, should "continue focusing on prevention by ensuring they prevent access to their foodstuff by rodents," Ihekweazu said.

There is risk of the virus spreading to other West African countries due to increased migration, said Dr. Oyewale Tomori, professor of virology at Redeemer's University in Nigeria and the former regional virologist for the WHO's Africa Region.

"There is always cause for alarm in West Africa, where the rodent host of can be found in virtually all countries of West Africa," he said.

Benin, Liberia and Sierra Leone have all reported cases of Lassa fever over the past month, according to the WHO, but risk of further international transmission is low for now.

CNN

Video - Nigerian Painting of princess sold for $1.6 million at an auction in London

A painting by the renowned Nigerian artist Ben Enwonwu that had been missing for decades, has sold for record 1.6 million dollars, at an auction in London. Enwonwu's 1974 classic painting of the Ife princess Adetutu Ademiluyi, known as Tutu, is widely celebrated in Nigeria, with reproduction posters found in many homes. Three were painted in the early 1970s and famously disappeared in an art world mystery that is until one was discovered in a very ordinary London apartment late last year.

Video - Nigeria's army, police trade blame over militant attack on school

It appears as if the Nigerian girls' disappearance is taking its toll on Nigerian security forces. The army and Yobe police are blaming each other for the abductions. Yobe police officers claim the militants attacked Dapchi because the army had withdrawn from the area. However, the military maintains it pulled out of Dapchi because calm had returned to the area. The army claims it handed over security control to the Yobe police -- and blames local officers for the bungle. Yobe's police commissioner, however, denies any handover took place -- and says the military failed to inform him of its intention to withdraw.

Nigerian and Cameroonian military free 1,130 hostages from Boko Haram

At least 1,130 civilians were freed, and 37 suspected Boko Haram militants were killed during a joint offensive by Cameroonian and Nigerian troops in communities around the Lake Chad region on Monday, according to a Nigerian army spokesman.

In a statement on Tuesday, spokesman Colonel Onyema Nwackukwu said the offensives took place in border villages of Kusha-Kucha, Surdewala, Alkanerik, Magdewerne and Mayen, culminating in the destruction of several Boko Haram camps and seizure of weapons, including machine guns and anti-aircraft guns.

Four improvised explosive devices were also destroyed.

Nwackukwu said some 603 hostages were freed across Kusha-Kucha, Surdewala, Alkanerik, Magdewerne and Mayen villages; they were taken to the Nigerian Bama town for profiling and handing over to relief agencies.

"The troops also extracted 194 civilians held captive by the insurgents and destroyed makeshift accommodations erected by the insurgents. Additionally, the combined troops successfully cleared Miyanti and Wudila villages, where they rescued three men, 121 women and 209 children," the army spokesman added.

On Tuesday, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) Secretary-General Dr Yousef Al-Othaimeen condemned the abduction of some 110 schoolgirls from Nigeria’s northeastern Dapchi town Monday.

Al Jazeera

Names of 110 girls kidnapped by Boko Haram in Nigeria released

The Nigerian government has released the names of the 110 missing girls, some as young as 11 years old, who have not been seen since a raid on their school in Dapchi last week.

Fighter jets, helicopters and surveillance planes have all been deployed in the search for the girls, who vanished after suspected Boko Haram militants attacked the Government Girls Science Technical College.

According to a list of names released by the authorities Tuesday, the missing are aged between 11 and 19. The names have been verified by a panel of school administrators and government officials, according to a statement by Alhaji Lai Mohammed, Nigeria's Minister of Information and Culture.

As of Monday evening, the Nigerian Air Force had flown a total of 200 hours while searching for the girls. Nigeria's Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshall Sadique Abubakar, has been relocated to Yobe State, where Dapchi is located, to personally supervise the search, the government statement said.


The school is only 275 kilometers (170 miles) from Chibok, where Boko Haram militants kidnapped nearly 300 girls from a school in 2014.

After global outrage and prolonged negotiation, many of the Chibok girls were later freed but more than 100 are still missing, thought to be held in a number of unknown locations.

The father of one of the girls who was taken from Dapchi, Bashir Manzo, told CNN he isn't happy with the way the government has handled the situation.

"My daughter Aisha Kachalla is missing and we can't get any information from school because soldiers are all over there," said Manzo, who is also the newly elected head of the parent's association.

"No security came to Dapchi the day the men came, now over a hundred soldiers have taken over the village."

Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari said the raid was a "national disaster" and promised the families of the missing girls their children would be returned.

"We are sorry that it happened; we share your pain. Let me assure that our gallant armed forces will locate and safely return all the missing girls," Buhari said in a Twitter statement.

CNN