Okusaga was said to have recently completed his one year compulsory service with the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC). Apart from the deceased, two others, including a doctor and a nurse at the Federal Medical Centre (FMC), Idi-Aba, Abeokuta, have allegedly been infected by the dreaded disease and placed under surveillance.
The outbreak of the haemorrhagic fever came barely four months after the state was declared Lassa-free by government. The resurgence of the disease has, however, ignited panic among staff of the hospital, patients and other members of the public.
But government yesterday allayed the fears of members of the public, saying it was on top of the situation. It was learnt that the mortuary attendant died on Friday while Adesuyi died on Saturday night.
Sources said the nurse had earlier attended to the morgue attendant when he was rushed to the FMC and the tragic events which followed sparked suspicion.
The autopsy subsequently conducted on the late nurse at the University College Hospital (UCH), Ibadan, was said to have confirmed that she died of Lassa fever.
As information spread about the disease, some patients on admission were said to have asked the authorities to hurriedly discharge them for fear of contracting the disease. It was also learnt that Okusaga’s father is the consultant in charge of the morgue at the hospital.
When contacted, the FMC Public Relations Officer, Abeokuta, Segun Orisajo, confirmed the incident.
He said two other members of staff had been placed under surveillance. Orisajo said the Ministry of Health had embarked on a contact tracing exercise to ascertain the number of people who could have also contacted the disease.
He said: “They are also doing decontamination of thematic areas but the management of FMC has assured members of the public not to exercise fear because it can only be contacted only through fluid.
“Officials of the state Ministry of Health led by the Commissioner, Dr. Babatunde Ipaye, was at the hospital to render their support.” But reacting, Ipaye said panic over the outbreak of Lassa fever in the state was presumptuous and unnecessary.
He promised that all those who might have had contacts with the victims had been placed under surveillance. According to him, the disease could be transmitted where there was contact with the body fluid of a victim.
The commissioner explained that government had always been proactive on issues relating to public health. He added that the state never recorded any case of Lassa fever except for the two cases imported to the state from Ebonyi and Kogi states a few months ago. Ipaye disclosed that Ministry of Health, in collaboration with FMC, would quickly set up an isolation centre at the hospital to attend to any emergency.
He said: “We are going to immediately create an isolation centre here at FMC to cater for unexpected cases and emergency on public health issues like Lassa fever to include other communicable diseases. I have sent medical officers out to confirm the root of the case.”
Ipaye, however, urged the nurses to always attend to all patients in the most hygienic and clinical manner.
The commissioner said continuous sensitisation was ongoing on the need for the public to maintain high personal hygiene, get rid of rats in and around the houses, proper food storage procedures and constant hand washing.
