Lassa Fever Outbreak Sparks Health Crisis in Nasarawa as Medical Facility Closes, Staff Quarantined

A suspected Lassa fever outbreak in Nasarawa State has claimed four lives, including two expectant mothers, triggering the closure of a major healthcare facility and raising urgent questions about the state’s disease response infrastructure.

The fatalities, all recorded in Awe Local Government Area, have forced authorities to shutter the General Hospital in Awe while medical personnel, including the facility’s Medical Superintendent, undergo mandatory isolation protocols. The development was confirmed during investigations conducted on Wednesday, January 7, 2025.

Ahmad Abdullahi, the Disease Surveillance Officer for the affected area, provided details of the outbreak’s progression, explaining that alarm bells first rang when a woman exhibiting symptoms consistent with Lassa fever arrived at an Awe health facility. Tragically, she succumbed before medical intervention could be administered.

The situation deteriorated further when her spouse also perished after displaying identical symptoms, according to Abdullahi’s account.

Beyond the immediate casualties, Abdullahi highlighted systemic failures complicating containment efforts, particularly criticizing inadequate case management procedures. He revealed that several suspected patients who had been referred to Lafia for isolation managed to abscond from medical supervision.

The surveillance officer also drew attention to critical resource gaps hampering disease response capabilities across the state. “None of the disease surveillance officers across the 13 local government areas of Nasarawa State has been provided with motorcycles by the government, which is affecting prompt response to remote areas,” he said.

Abdullahi expressed frustration over a particularly concerning incident involving patient management. “The state government sent an ambulance to Awe to convey six suspected cases for isolation in Lafia, but they were allowed to escape even before the laboratory test results were released,” he stated.

From within the affected hospital, frontline healthcare workers have issued urgent appeals for protective equipment, with staff expressing mounting anxiety over their vulnerability to infection.

Ovey Polycarp, a nurse at the General Hospital in Awe, described the frightening circumstances surrounding the pregnant women’s deaths and called for immediate intervention. “The two women were brought to the hospital almost at the same time with symptoms resembling malaria, but their conditions deteriorated to bleeding and haemorrhage, which led to their deaths. We are living in fear because we do not have protective equipment to manage the outbreak,” she said.

Polycarp’s testimony underscores the diagnostic challenges posed by Lassa fever, whose early symptoms can mimic common ailments like malaria—potentially delaying proper treatment and infection control measures.

Official response from state health authorities has been more measured in confirming outbreak scope. Dr Peter Attah, Director of Public Health at the Nasarawa State Ministry of Health, indicated that laboratory confirmation has been obtained for only a single Lassa fever case within Awe LGA. The patient in question, according to Dr Attah, had already died before test results became available.

The discrepancy between suspected cases and laboratory-confirmed infections highlights ongoing challenges in rapid diagnostic testing and real-time disease surveillance.

As a precautionary measure, decontamination operations are currently underway at the General Hospital in Awe, with fumigation efforts aimed at preventing pathogen transmission to neighboring communities. The closure of the facility raises concerns about healthcare access for Awe residents during the containment period.

The outbreak has exposed critical vulnerabilities in Nasarawa State’s public health infrastructure, from inadequate protective equipment for frontline workers to logistical constraints affecting disease surveillance officers’ mobility in rural areas. These systemic weaknesses could complicate efforts to contain the current outbreak and respond to future public health emergencies.