Background: Lassa fever is an acute, highly infectious viral haemorrhagic illness caused by Lassa fever virus. The reservoir is Mastomys natalensis. The disease is endemic in West African sub region causing 300,000-500,000 infections annually, with about 500 deaths. In March, 2012, we investigated a reported outbreak of Lassa fever in Taraba State, Nigeria to confirm the outbreak, determine its extent, characterize the outbreak and institute public health actions.Methods & Materials: We reviewed hospital records and used IDSR standard case definition for Lassa fever to identify and linelist cases. A suspected case was defined as "any person with severe febrile illness not responsive to the usual causes of fever in the area with or without sore-throat and at least one of the following: bloody stools, vomiting blood, bleeding into the skin and unexplained bleeding from the nose, vagina or eyes". A standardized line-listing form was developed to capture socio-demographic and clinical information of the cases. Various exposure factors including age, gender, occupation and contact history were examined.Results: A total of 35 cases were recorded. Nine of 35 cases were laboratory confirmed (25.7%). Altogether, 14 deaths were recorded giving a case fatality rate of 40%. Majority of the cases belonged to the age group 25-34 years (40%) with females constituting 51%. Most of the cases were healthcare workers (22.9%). The commonest presenting features were fever (85.7%), cough (28.6%), bleeding from orifices or into skin (25.7%) and headache (20%).
Background Measles is a vaccine preventable, highly transmissible viral infection that affects mostly children under five years. It has been ear marked for elimination and Nigeria adopted the measles elimination strategies of the World Health Organization (WHO) African region to reduce cases and deaths. This study was done to determine trends in measles cases in Bayelsa state, to describe cases in terms of person and place, identify gaps in the case-based surveillance data collection system and identify risk factors for measles infection. Methods We carried out a secondary data analysis of measles case-based surveillance data for the period of January 2014 to December 2018 obtained in Microsoft Excel from the State Ministry of Health. Cases were defined according to WHO standard case definitions. We calculated frequencies, proportions, estimated odds ratios (OR), 95% confidence intervals (CI) and multivariate analysis. Results A total of 449 cases of measles were reported. There were 245(54.6%) males and the most affected age group was 1-4 years with 288(64.1%) cases. Of all cases, 289(9.35%) were confirmed and 70 (48.27%) had received at least one dose of measles vaccine. There was an all-year transmission with increased cases in the 4 th quarter of the year. Yenegoa local government area had the highest number of cases. Timeliness of specimen reaching the laboratory and the proportion of specimens received at the laboratory with results sent to the national level timely was below WHO recommended 80% respectively. Predictors of measles infection were, age less than 5 years (AOR: 0.57, 95% CI: 0.36-0.91) and residing in an urban area (AOR: 1.55, 95% CI:1.02-2.34). Conclusions Measles infection occurred all-year round, with children less than 5 years being more affected. Measles case-based surveillance system showed high levels of case investigation with poor data quality and poor but improving indicators. Being less than 5 years was protective of measles while living in urban areas increased risk for infection. We recommended to the state government to prioritize immunization activities in the urban centers, start campaigns by the 4th quarter and continue to support measles surveillance activities and the federal government to strengthen regional laboratory capacities.
The recent upsurge in the number and magnitude of outbreaks of infectious diseases in Nigeria has been managed effectively and efficiently by the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) in an increasingly epidemiology guided approach led by a skilled workforce within the one health collaborative agenda.1–4 The increasing number of the outbreaks of re-emerging infectious diseases could not have been unconnected to the effect of global warming with its resultant effect in the changing population activities and interaction with nature.5–7 Nigeria could not have effectively contained these emerging public health challenges had she not taken steps in developing her public health infrastructure, the laboratory capabilities and manpower development. Since 2008, the Nigeria Field Epidemiology Laboratory Training Program (NFELTP), a collaborative effort by NCDC, Federal Ministry of Health, Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, African Field Epidemiology Network (AFENET) with financial and technical support from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has been building epidemiology capacity for disease prevention and control. Field epidemiology, the art and practice of epidemiology in the field, has been adopted as an effective tool and practice in preventing, detecting and controlling emerging public health threats and crisis. Field epidemiology provides the scientific evidence for public health actions.
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