The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention recorded 214 confirmed cases of Lassa fever and 39 deaths in 43 local government areas in 10 states between December 30, 2024 and January 19, 2025.
According to a Lassa fever situation report received by the National Centre for Disease Control on Thursday, the center reported 843 suspected cases and a case fatality rate of 18.2 percent.
Cases were reported in Ondo (82), Edo (47), Bauchi (35), Taraba (31), Ebonyi (6), Gombe (4), Kogi (4), Plateau (3), Delta (1) and Nasarawa (1) confirmed.
The deaths were reported from Ondo (8), Edo (9), Bauchi (4), Taraba (9), Ebonyi (3), Gombe (3), Kogi (1), Plateau (1) and Nasarawa (1).
According to the World Health Organization, Lassa fever is an acute viral hemorrhagic disease caused by the Lassa virus, which belongs to the Arenaviridae family.
Humans are usually infected with the Lassa fever virus through contact with food or household items contaminated with urine or excrement of infected Mastomys rats.
The disease is endemic in rodents in parts of West Africa.
Lassa fever is endemic in Benin, Ghana, Guinea, Liberia, Mali, Sierra Leone, Togo and Nigeria.
“Person-to-person and laboratory transmission may also occur if appropriate infection prevention and control measures are not implemented, especially in health care settings,” the World Health Organization said.
“In the third week of the year, the number of newly confirmed cases decreased to 71 from 89 in the second week of 2025.” These were reported from Ondo, Edo, Bauchi, Taraba, Plateau, Ebonyi, Gombe, Nasarawa, Delta, and Kogi states.
“A cumulative total of 39 deaths were reported in the third week of 2025, giving a case fatality rate (CFR) of 18.2%, lower than the CFR for the same period in 2024 (20.4%).
“In total, 43 local government areas across 10 states recorded at least one confirmed case in 2025,” the report states.
It states that 77% of all confirmed cases of Lassa fever were reported from Ondo, Edo, and Bauchi, while 23% were reported from the seven states with confirmed cases of Lassa fever. Of the 77% of confirmed cases, Ondo State reported 38%, Edo State 22% and Bauchi State 17%.
The main age group is said to be between 21 and 30 years (range: 3-94 years, mean age: 30 years). The male-to-female ratio among infected persons is 1:0.8.
“The number of suspected cases has increased compared to the number reported during the same period in 2024.
“No new health care workers were affected during the third week of reporting.”
“The National, Multi-Partner, Multi-Sector Lassa Fever Incident Management System has been activated to coordinate response activities at all levels,” the report added.
However, the Centre has deployed a National Emergency Response Team to support control and management efforts on the ground using the One Health approach.
