From Ado Abubakar Musa, Jos
No fewer than four persons were confirmed death and 11 others infected in Jos South, Bassa and Jos North local government areas of Plateau state, following an outbreak of Lassa Fever in the state.
The outbreak of the disease was confirmed yesterday by the Plateau state Epemidiologist, Dr. Raymond Juryit.
The Epemitologist said: “So far, the state ministry health has recorded 15 cases and four had died from the disease”.
He however added that, “Ribavirin is the only drug for treatment of Lassa fever, but we don’t have it right now; we usually receive them from federal ministry of health every year but we have not received for this year yet. Doctors now resort to symptomatic treatment rather than curative treatment”.
Also, the state Commissioner for Health, Dr. Fom Dakwak, while reacting to the development, said the already affected people had since been hospitalised at Bingham Teaching Hospital in Jos South.
The commissioner admitted that:”It is true that there is no drug in the state at the moment; we receive them from the federal ministry of health. The state ministry has been making efforts to get the drugs to the patients.
“For the past three months we have been trying to get the drugs from the ministry but we could not get them yet”, he said.
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