With the approach of the annual dry season in Nigeria, international medical organisation Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders (MSF) is encouraging communities to take measures to help prevent Lassa fever. 


By detecting the disease early, and by taking preventive hygiene measures such as ensuring houses are free of rats, many people’s lives can be saved. 


Lassa fever is a contagious disease spread through contact with infected rats and through uncovered food contaminated with rat faeces or urine. Symptoms include fever, headache, sore throat, general body weakness, cough, nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea, muscle pain, chest pain and, in severe cases, unexplained bleeding from the ears, eyes, nose, mouth and other parts of the body. 


The time between infection and the appearance of symptoms ranges from three to 21 days. Lassa fever infects around 300,000 people in West Africa each year and causes around 5,000 deaths, with most cases in Nigeria occurring during the dry season from December to March. 


Early diagnosis and treatment can radically increase people’s chances of survival.


Over recent years, the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) has recorded an increase in cases of Lassa fever. From January to August this year, there were 894 reported cases, compared to 510 cases for the whole of 2021. 


“Healthcare workers are most at risk of catching the disease,” says Elton


 Mbofana, MSF project coordinator in Ebonyi state. “The major risk for them is contracting the disease while treating a patient with Lassa fever, due to a lack of personal protective equipment and sub-optimal infection prevention and control measures. Healthcare workers must be protected, not only for their own wellbeing, but also to prevent their absence having an impact on the health system.” 


MSF began medical activities in Abakaliki, Ebonyi state, in March 2018 to respond to Lassa fever, with a focus on reducing transmission to healthcare workers and on improving case management to reduce mortality from the disease. 


MSF teams currently work closely with the NCDC and State Ministry of Health in the Alex Ekwueme Federal University Teaching Hospital Abakaliki (AE-FUTHA) to test and treat patients with Lassa fever while ensuring protective measures for hospital staff, patients, caretakers and visitors. So far this year, MSF teams in AE-FUTHA have treated 58 patients for the disease, while also providing them with mental health support and conducting awareness-raising activities in the community.


MSF teams have also responded to emergencies and outbreaks of other diseases in Ebonyi and neighbouring states.


There is no vaccine to prevent Lassa fever, while diagnosing the disease is complex and unaffordable for many. The main drug used to treat Lassa fever, Ribavirin, is also expensive, putting treatment out of reach for most people across West Africa. 


Ribavirin needs to be given to patients within six days of being infected and has not been proven effective in randomised controlled trials. On top of all this, people infected with Lassa fever often suffer stigma because of its association with hunting rats – a common source of food for lower socio-economic groups. 


“The cost of treatment needs to be subsidised to ensure that everyone has early access to care,” says MSF project medical referent Dr Slaymen Ammar.


 “We urge the Nigerian health authorities to improve funding so that treatment of Lassa fever is free of charge and so that staff in health facilities can implement effective infection prevention and control measures. In addition, reducing the concentration of rodents through good waste management and food storage practices can also cut Lassa fever transmission and prevalence.”


Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders (MSF) is an international, independent, medical humanitarian organisation that delivers emergency aid to people affected by armed conflict, epidemics, natural disasters and exclusion from healthcare. MSF has worked continuously in Nigeria since 1996, and currently provides medical care, free of charge, in 11 states across the country.


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Contact:

Field Communication Officer, Abdulkareem Yakubu

 Email: msf-nigeria-press@geneva.msf.org