Woman dies of disease in Cross River

monjola sotubo

February 24, 2017 1:35 PM

22-year-old Christabel Itodo died on Monday, February 20, at the University of Calabar Teaching Hospital (UCTH).

A rat is being used for test on the Lassa Fever virus.

Cross River State has recorded its first casualty from

Itodo died on Monday, February 20, at the University of Calabar Teaching Hospital (UCTH).

The disclosure was made by the Chief Medical Director of the hospital, Professor Thomas Agan on Thursday, February 23.

“The woman was married to a soldier, who was in Calabar but later posted to Maiduguri. But she came back to Calabar,” Agan said.

“When the illness started, she was taken to Eburutu Barracks Clinic, where she was later transferred to Navy Clinic, before she was brought here when her organs were failing.

“I got an SMS from one of my deputies, Sunday night, that there was a case which lasted for about 12 hours before the patient gave up. The case was not a primary case of UCTH; we only tried to manage the kidney failure, which had occurred after she was brought from Navy Hospital and when all her system collapsed she gave up.

“The Federal Ministry of Health has been informed the Cross River State Government and Centre for Disease Control. Also, the specimen that was sent out came back to prove that it was Lassa Fever and this is the first case ever to be recorded in the state,” he added.

The Cross River government had, in January 2016, warned residents of the state to temporarily stop drinking “Garri” in order not to catch the disease.

ALSO READ: Lassa fever - 137 confirmed cases, 80 deaths since outbreak in December 2015

Commissioner for Health, Dr Inyang Asibong, said that Lassa fever was a hemorrhagic fever transmitted from rats to humans, said the warning became imperative as the causative agents, rats, may have urinated or defecated on it.

Asibong also advised members of the public to store their food and grains in areas where rodents could not have access to eat and urinate on them.

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