Fresh outbreak of Lassa fever kills two in Kano

About two persons have been confirmed dead after testing positive to Lassa fever at Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital in Kano.

Unconfirmed source told The Guardian that the victims – a father and his son were brought to the hospital from a nearby village but died of the disease a day later.

Assistant Director, Public Affairs at Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital, Mallam Aminu Inuwa, who confirmed the development however declined to reveal further details on the victims.

Aminu hinted that, “the affected persons, a father and his son were brought to the hospital from an undisclosed location. They were confirmed to have contracted Lassa fever after diagnose. The two of them died last week, but the hospital is taking necessary measures to check the development and I can assure you action is being taken against this.”

Efforts to confirm the outbreak at the state Ministry of Health did not yield positive result as the Commissioner for Health Dr. Kabiru Ibrahim Getso was said to be attending state executive council meeting.

But in an exclusive telephone interview with The Guardian, the Executive Secretary of Centre for Disease Control in Nigeria, Prof. Abdulsalam Nasidi, confirmed that the death of the two persons at Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital was caused by Lassa fever.