LAGOS, Dec 31, 2020 (BSS/XINHUA) – A Lassa fever outbreak in Nigeria has killed 242 people so far this year in the West African nation, according to the Nigeria Center for Disease Control (NCDC).
This is 72 higher than the 170-casualty figure recorded in 2019, the health agency updated in a situation report released on the disease and obtained by Xinhua on Wednesday.
Lassa fever is a disease spread to humans through food or household items contaminated with rodent urine or feces.
From the NCDC’s report, Nigeria has so far recorded 1,175 confirmed cases of the disease in 2020, and the cases were recorded in 27 out of the nation’s 36 states.
Lassa fever is reportedly transmitted when saliva, urine, and excreta of rats come into contact with humans. In some cases, Lassa fever has similar symptoms as malaria.