110 persons under watch in Ogun State

He said the Ministry of Health had tracked 50 more of the former patients who were on admission “before and after the victim was brought into the two private hospitals” for treatment.

play Lassa fever(This picture is for illustrative purposes).
(Omojuwa)

• Gbenga Bada

A total of 110 people have been placed under watch by medical practitioners in Ogun State following the record of the first case of Lassa Fever.

According to the state's Commissioner for Health, Dr. Babatunde Ipaye, the number of the primary contacts with the first index case of Lassa fever in the state has increased from 60 to 110, and they have all been placed under watch.

Dr Ipaye made this statement when he visited the 28-years old lady, who is the first victim in the state, on Saturday, February 6, 2016 at the Olabisi Onabanjo University Teaching Hospital Sagamu.

He said the Ministry of Health had tracked 50 more of the former patients who were on admission “before and after the victim was brought into the two private hospitals” for treatment.

“All the 110 persons have been given a thermometer each to monitor the level of their temperature with one Surveillance Officer attached to each of them,” he said

Continuing, he said, 'the 60 persons earlier put under watch were made up of health workers of the two private hospitals, and family members of the victim. 35 were from the first hospital, 22 from the second one and three family members of the victim.'

Corroborating the words of Dr Ipaye, the Director of Public Health in the Ministry of Health, Dr. Yusuf Quudus, reiterated that the 110 persons under surveillance would be watched closely between 6-21 days incubation period before they would be released to their family members.