Nigeria is exterminating rats in an attempt to contain a deadly virus that causes bleeding in human eyes.
Lassa fever, which is transmitted by rodents, has killed 85 people in Nigeria this year.
A total of 2,629 people have been infected in the West African country as of February 18, according to the latest report from the Nigerian Center for Disease Control and Prevention.
Last year saw the worst outbreak on record.
The number of cases this year is about the same as last year, but the deaths are slightly lower.
The Lassa virus that causes the disease is one of the pathogens most likely to cause a global pandemic, along with Ebola, Covid-19 and Zika, according to the World Health Organization.
State Minister for the Environment Iziak Salako said: “Our goal is to limit the outbreak of the disease so that it does not spread to any other country.
“We are engaged in rat extermination and awareness raising at the community level as part of preventive measures.
“We are essentially implementing measures to ensure genocide to reduce the numbers of vectors that cause the disease.
“We will focus annually on vulnerable communities and countries.”
Lassa fever, which often occurs in the winter months, causes headache, sore throat, muscle pain, weakness, vomiting, diarrhea and cough.
One in five people with the disease develops a condition so bad that it causes bleeding from the eyes, nose, mouth and vagina.
In some cases, Lassa fever causes seizures, facial swelling, and hearing loss that partially returns after three months.
It can take up to 21 days for symptoms to appear, and in fatal cases, death occurs within two weeks.
Most people infected with the virus never develop symptoms, and the overall mortality rate is 1%.
But this number rises to 15% among people who are hospitalized due to the disease, making early diagnosis and treatment crucial.
However, it is difficult to differentiate from other viral hemorrhagic fevers such as typhoid fever, Ebola, and malaria.
Lassa fever kills almost all fetuses when infected with the virus during pregnancy.
The latest figures from Nigeria put the death rate at around 18% since infection rates spiked earlier this year.
Poor sanitation and poor access to medical care are major obstacles to containing the outbreak and reducing deaths.
Lassa fever is mainly found in Benin, Ghana, Guinea, Liberia, Mali, Sierra Leone, Togo and Nigeria. But it has also reached Europe, specifically the United Kingdom.
Fears of an outbreak spread among Britons when three cases and one child died in 2022, the first time Lassa fever had been detected in the country since 2009.
The first was a person who had recently traveled to Mali, while the other two were family members.
The virus can spread between people if they come into contact with the blood, urine, semen, saliva, or feces of an infected person.
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