Dual tension: Lassa fever and COVID-19 in Nigeria

Lassa fever is a viral hemorrhagic, zoonotic disease that is a continuous health issue in West African countries such as Sierra Leone, Liberia, Guinea and Nigeria [1]. Ingestion and inhalation are the most common ways of transmission of Lassa fever. Patients generally get infected due to an exposure to food or household items which are contaminated with urine or droppings of infected Mastomys rodents. Lassa fever was first discovered in Lassa town, Borno State in Nigeria. It causes around 1000,000 – 300,000 infections each year with approximately 5,000 deaths in Nigeria [1]. In 2020, 70 deaths have been reported in 26 Nigerian states and the Federal Capital Territory. Among all those cases, 75% were from Edo, Ondo, and Ebonyi [2]. As of May 2020, Nigeria has recorded 991 confirmed cases and 191 deaths with case fatality ratio of 19.3% [3]. To prevent and mitigate the negative impact of Lassa Fever, the Nigeria Center for Disease Control (NCDC) has formed an interdisciplinary, multi-partner technical team to control outbreaks in affected Nigerian states.