Lassa fever has killed two doctors, a mother and her baby in Nasarawa, the Chief Medical Director, Dalhatu Araf Specialist Hospital, Dr Ikrama Hassan disclosed.
The state had last week announced the confirmation of two cases of Lassa fever since the beginning of the dry season.
Reporting the sad development, the CMD revealed that the two doctors who were Consultant gynaecologists got infected after performing surgery on a probable case of the disease.
He blamed the unavailability of a testing facility for the death of the doctors.
“We cannot do testing here because there is no testing facility in Nasarawa, and the woman’s case was an emergency.
“So we believed that is how the two doctors contracted the virus. Unfortunately, we lost the doctors as well as the mother and her baby,” the CMD added.
“If there was a testing centre here, I believe test for Lassa fever would have been conducted before carrying out the surgery.
“Gone are the days when a patient has to wait for many days before getting a test result,” the CMD declared.
“We immediately traced all the personnel’s in the hospital that had contacts with the deceased to the patient and the doctors.
“All the contacts, including medical personnel in the hospital, had tested negative and free from Lassa fever at the moment,” he said.
