Lassa fever kills youth corp member serving in Obubra, C’River state
A National Youth Corp Service member serving in Community Secondary School, Ofodua, Obubra local government area of Cross River state, identified as Stanley Samuel Onwuegbuzie, has been reported dead.
He died of Lassa fever. The deceased gave up the ghost yesterday at the University of Calabar Teaching Hospital (UCTH) after been in coma for few days.
Confirming the dead, the state Commissioner for Health, Dr. Inyang Asibong, told Daily Times on phone on Friday that the youth corper died of lassa fever, saying “he was serving in Obubra local government area of the state, unfortunately we lost him yesterday.
He has been in coma at the University of Calabar Teaching Hospital (UCTH) for a few days and was first admitted at the General Hospital Obubra before he was referred to the UCTH but we loss him.
“We are already doing contact-tracing of all his possible contacts. He was teaching in a secondary school in Obubra and was residing at the corpers’ lodge. We have isolation centre in case we have any other case. Already, unspecified number of people have been quarantined and we are doing a lot of sensitization and awareness on the signs and symptoms of lassa fever.”
The deceased, according to our findings, was from Delta state and Dr. Asibong said government had contacted the family and they are fully aware of the incident.
“We have contacted the family in Delta State and they are aware of the death and we are handling the corpse in the right way” and on what the government was going to do in terms of compensation, the commissioner said, “The state government is working on it but cannot give categorical statement for now,” she said.
She however said that samples were taken to the laboratory and it was a confirmed case of Lassa fever and the corper died moments ago in the facility (UCTH) and urged the people of the state to go about their normal duties as the state was currently following the WHO protocol on the case and we have begun our meetings.
