Nyityo, staff of the World Health Organisation (WHO), is said to have taken ill and was referred to Irrua Specialist Hospital in Edo State where he died.
A hospital staff who spoke with Vanguard on Monday, January 10, said that three persons also lost their lives to the disease.
“Lassa fever is in Benue now. We lost a colleague, Dr Samuel Nyityo, today. I lost two patients last week. One ate rat and took ill. I am currently taking prophylaxis (ribavirin) and isolating because I nursed two out of the three people who died,” the source said.
Commissioner for Health and Human Services in Benue State, Dr. Joseph Ngbea, confirmed the outbreak of Lassa fever but denied that three persons died from the disease. He said only one person died and another, who was infected was being treated.
“Only Dr Nyityo died. Nobody is in a critical position. The other person is in a stable condition. For Lassa fever, the vector is rat. For the doctor, we discovered that last year, two people had Lassa fever in his compound. This means that there is a species of rat that moves around in that area and poaches on people’s food. People should stop the idea of keeping food outside on the ground and people should be discouraged from eating rat.
People should also keep away anything that would encourage rats to enter their homes. Those are the preventive measures. Apart from that, people should also see the doctor if they have a fever,” he said.
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