Officials from the Katsina state health ministry have declared the state free from the Lassa fever virus barely two weeks after spread in the state.
The state commissioner of health, Mariya Bala Usman had on April 5th, declared that the lassa fever epidemic had hit the state.
She announced that a 27-year-old architect (names witheld) had tested positive of the disease and was being treated at the Isolation Centre of National Obstetric Fistula Centre, Babbar Ruga in Katsina.
She said samples from the corpse of a person suspected to have died from the disease had also been taken to Lagos for confirmation.
However, reprieve came when the permanent secretary of the ministry, Dr Kabir Mustapha declared that the state was now lassa fever free.
Mustapha revealed that seven of the primary contacts in isolation had undergone the basic protocols and re-tested and the test turned out negative, and that in line with the international protocol that stipulates that an affected person be isolated and placed on drugs for a period of 10 days after which they are retested to ensure their status, the state government monitored those affected and the test turned out negative indicating that they no longer harbour the disease.
