The Ebonyi Commissioner for Health, Sunday Nwangele, said yesterday, that six medical staff of the Federal Teaching Hospital (FETHA), Abakaliki, had tested positive to Lassa fever.
Mr. Nwangele confirmed to journalists, in Abakaliki, that the six persons were among the 11 doctors and five nurses who were rushed to the virology laboratory in Irrua, Edo, for testing.
The state chapter of the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA), last Thursday announced that 11 doctors and five nurses had contracted the disease after participating in a clinical operation on a pregnant woman in the hospital.
The state NMA Chairman, Chidi Esike, told journalists at a news conference in Abakaliki that the woman and her baby died a few days after they were discharged from the hospital.
Mr. Esike also said that the state had recorded 25 deaths due to Lassa fever since 2005, adding that many of them were medical personnel.
Commenting on the development, the commissioner said: “No live was lost except for the pregnant woman and her baby through whom the health workers contracted the disease.’’
(NAN)
