Health
Lassa fever: 3 more test positive at LUTH, 150 under watch
LAGOS—Three persons under surveillance for Lassa fever at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital, LUTH, have tested positive to the disease.
This came as Lagos State Government, yesterday, urged Lagosians not to panic, saying the epidemic was near containment in the state. Also, 150 people exposed to the cases are now under surveillance.
Meanwhile, as part of efforts to contain the spread of the contagious disease, the Lagos State Government has taken over the burial of the corpse of the second index case at LUTH. Disclosing these and other developments in a joint press conference of LUTH and Lagos State Ministry of Health, the Chief Medical Director, Prof Chris Bode, explained that the current outbreak was being effectively traced in the field, adding that all persons currently exposed to the index cases were being effectively treated.
“The outbreak is under control. We have enough drugs and we have received enough assistance from partners. Let us please douse the panic created by unguarded statements and if anyone needs to make enquiries, we have already provided hotlines for this,’’ he said. Bode, who was optimistic that the outbreak would be defeated, explained that corpses of the deceased who came from neighbouring states, had been professionally managed.
He added that each of the cases had been managed in other facilities before they were referred to LUTH. He said the infected resident doctor and others that tested positive to the Lassa virus were responding to treatment. “She (the doctor) is in good state of health. Once Lassa fever is detected early and treatment initiated, there is every cause to be optimistic of recovery of the patient. ‘’We have four beds in the isolation unit which is completely self-contained and have rooms for nurses and doctors, where they can change, and they have their own toilets and bathrooms.
“It has regular supply of electricity and water, fully air conditioned and we follow international standard procedure in attending to the patients,’’ he said. While disclosing that the hospital has made necessary arrangement for additional spaces for any likely cases from within or outside the hospital, he explained that ‘workers and other people who have been exposed to the cases have been profiled.
“All those under surveillance have been given thermometers to check their temperature in case of any unusual rise in body temperature. The LUTH workers, who came in contact directly with the first patient, were close to 100 and they were swiftly informed and each of them is still being followed up for any early signs of Lassa fever. “Of the 100, three persons, who developed symptoms tested positive and have been on admission and receiving treatment in our Isolation Ward here in LUTH.” He urged all hospitals across the state to maintain high index of suspicion and contact LUTH on 08058019466, 08058744780, 07035521015 and 08023299445.
No cause for alarm — LASG Speaking, the Director of Disease Control, Lagos State Ministry of Health, Dr Eniola Erinosho, who called for caution to avoid unnecessary panic over the outbreak, said the state was near containing the outbreak. According to him, the Lagos State Ministry of Health had directed its Epidemiology Unit to move into LUTH immediately it was notified about the development on August 3, 2017 in order to prevent further spread of the disease. “We are on top of the situation and there should be no panic, and again the index case mentioned was referred from Divine Grace Hospital Imota, Ikorodu area of Lagos.
We have been to Imota and have taken charge of the situation, but none of them have actually come down with the fever. “We have about 22 people there. Today is 14 days of monitoring and we hope in the next seven days, they will be discharged from monitoring list. At present, we have two cases at the Mainland Hospital but they are under control,’’ he said. “It is only when we have immediate contact that we restrict their movement. You can’t pass the virus until you show signs and symptoms.
But when they present with high temperature we move them to isolation wards.” Erinosho disclosed further that already, the state government was taking over the 2nd corpse which was still in LUTH’s possession, since the index case had been moved to Ilesha in order to conduct the burial according to international standards. “In case of death, we use body bags and we seal the coffin and the relatives will not see the body.
From there, we have special unit in the Ministry called ‘State Environmental Monitoring Unit’ that carries out the procedure.” LUTH-ARD, NMA react Reacting to the development, President, Association of Resident Doctors, LUTH-ARD, Dr Adebayo Sekunmade, who confirmed that one of their members had tested positive to the disease, tasked management of the hospital to provide enough Personal Protective Equipment, PPE, necessary for the management of the situation. “Some resident doctors volunteered to treat those 100 people under surveillance but we want the management to handle the situation more carefully.
The volunteer resident doctors and nurses should not come to the general wards or move around the premises. “They should be appropriately monitored and also protected so as to prevent further casualties,” he noted. Reacting to the development in a telephone chat with Vanguard, Lagos State Chairman of Nigerian Medical Association, NMA, Dr Olumuyiwa Odusote, who described the situation as unfortunate, urged the federal and state governments to scale up level of emergency preparedness in order to respond swiftly in situations of outbreak. He called on the government to procure Personal Protection Equipment, PPE, in all hospitals across the country.
“When we observe this international standard of responding to situations like this, it will reduce the chances of medical doctors and other health workers falling victim.” Meanwhile, the Special Adviser to the Governor on Primary Health Care, Dr. Olufemi Onanuga, in a statement issued by the LSMOH confirmed that laboratory results of the two suspected cases at the Mainland Hospital, Yaba, were negative.
Onanuga said the two patients were referred from the General Hospital, Lagos and a private hospital in Imota, Ikorodu. He called on residents to be calm and not panic, assuring them that Federal Government in active collaboration with the State Government is doing everything possible to control the spread of the Lassa Fever in Lagos State. 4 quarantined in Yobe hospital Four people are being quarantined for clinical analysis in Yobe over suspected case of Lassa fever, Dr Bello Kawuwa, the state Commissioner for Health said, yesterday.
Kawuwa told newsmen in Damaturu that seven people were initially held, but three had been discharged after clinical analysis. The commissioner said though, earlier results did not indicate that the four people have Lassa fever, a second laboratory test would be carried out on them.
The West African Society of Parenteral & Enteral Nutrition (WASPEN) has called on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to make clinical malnutrition a national healthcare priority, warning that the crisis is growing but remains largely overlooked in Nigeria’s healthcare system.
WASPEN’s Founder and President, Dr. Teresa Pounds, made this appeal on Monday during a press conference ahead of the 2025 WASPEN Clinical Nutrition Conference, scheduled for June 17–19 in collaboration with the National Hospital Abuja.
Themed “Bridging the Gap: Integrating Hospital and Community Malnutrition Care in Developing Countries,” the event aims to foster solutions for hospital and community malnutrition.
Describing malnutrition as “the skeleton in the hospital’s closet,” Dr. Pounds emphasised the need for urgent awareness, policy reform, and collaboration among healthcare stakeholders to ensure effective hospital nutrition programs.
“Many patients in Nigerian hospitals suffer from inadequate nutritional support, leading to prolonged hospital stays, increased complications, and higher mortality rates. This issue must be addressed at the highest level,” she stated.
The press conference was attended by the management of Genrith Pharmaceuticals Limited, a major partner, led by its CEO, Chief Emmanuel Umenwa.
Call for National Clinical Nutrition Policy
Dr. Pounds, a U.S.-based specialist in critical care nutrition and a board-certified nutrition support pharmacist, urged the government to implement a national policy framework to support specialised clinical nutrition interventions. She stressed the importance of integrating mandatory nutrition screening and intervention into all healthcare facilities.
She also called on the Federal and State Ministries of Health to expand and enforce standardised clinical nutrition policies, ensure hospitals conduct structured nutrition screening for all patients, makes medical nutrition therapy accessible and affordable, and support research and local production of specialised nutritional products.
She further encouraged NAFDAC, NIPRD, pharmaceutical companies, and NGOs to collaborate on research, funding, and product development to improve hospital and community-based nutritional care.
Invest in Africa’s food markets to win the war on hunger, boost nutrition – AfDB
“We need a national framework that ensures no patient suffers due to a lack of proper nutrition,” the expert stressed.
Conference to Attract Top Medical and Policy Experts
Speaking on the upcoming conference, Dr. Pounds noted that it will bring together leading medical experts, policymakers, and healthcare stakeholders to develop strategies for addressing malnutrition.
Prominent figures expected at the event include Prof. Ali Pate, Coordinating Minister of Health (Special Guest of Honour), Nyesom Wike, Minister of the FCT (Chief Host), Prof. Muhammad Raji Mahmud, Chief Medical Director, National Hospital Abuja (Host), Prof. Audu Bala, President, Nigerian Medical Association (Keynote Speaker), Pharm. Ibrahim Tanko Ayuba, President, Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria (Guest of Honour), and Prof. Salisu Maiwada Abubaka, President, Nutrition Society of Nigeria (Guest of Honour) admiration.
Pre-Conference Activities
Prof. Raji Mahmud, Chief Medical Director of the National Hospital Abuja, represented by the Chairperson of the Local Organising Committee (LOC), Pharm. Adesola Clara assured that the hospital has the necessary facilities and expertise to host a successful conference. He emphasised that the hospital is fully prepared for the programme.
Also, the WASPEN Central Planning Committee, led by Mrs. Ghinsel Blessing, revealed that pre-conference activities will include a hands-on training workshop on nutritional kits in hospitals, scheduled for June 16, a health walk to raise awareness about hospital malnutrition, expected to be led by First Lady Sen. Oluremi Tinubu.
With malnutrition posing a silent but deadly threat to healthcare outcomes, WASPEN hopes that the Tinubu administration will take decisive action to integrate nutrition-focused interventions into Nigeria’s health policies.
The 2025 WASPEN Clinical Nutrition Conference is expected to be a game-changer in shaping the future of clinical nutrition in Nigeria and West Africa.
Two US biotech companies say the Food and Drug Administration has cleared them to conduct clinical trials of their gene-edited pig kidneys for human transplants.
United Therapeutics along with another company, eGenesis, have been working since 2021 on experiments implanting pig kidneys into humans: initially brain-dead patients and more recently living recipients.
Advocates hope the approach will help address the severe organ shortage. More than 100,000 people in the United States are awaiting transplants, including over 90,000 in need of kidneys.
United Therapeutics’s approval, announced Monday, allows the company to advance its technology toward a licensed product if the trial succeeds.
The study authorization was hailed as a “significant step forward in our relentless mission to expand the availability of transplantable organs,” by Leigh Peterson, the company’s executive vice president.
The trial will initially enroll six patients with the end-stage renal disease before expanding to as many as 50, United Therapeutics said in a statement. The first transplant is expected in mid-2025.
Meanwhile, rival eGenesis said it had received FDA approval in December for a separate three-patient kidney study.
“The study will evaluate patients with kidney failure who are listed for a transplant but who face a low probability of receiving a deceased donor offer within a five-year timeframe,” the company said.
Xenotransplantation — transplanting organs from one species to another — has been a tantalizing yet elusive goal for science.
Early experiments in primates faltered, but advances in gene editing and immune system management have brought the field closer to reality.
Pigs have emerged as ideal donors: they grow quickly, produce large litters, and are already part of the human food supply.
United Therapeutics said trial patients would be monitored for life, assessing survival rates, kidney function, and the risk of zoonotic infections — diseases that jump from animals to humans.
Currently, there is only one living human recipient of a pig organ: Towana Looney, a 53-year-old from Alabama who received a United Therapeutics kidney on November 25, 2024.
She is also the longest-surviving recipient, having lived with a pig kidney for 71 days as of Tuesday. David Bennett of Maryland received a pig heart in 2022 and survived 60 days.
The Swiss government said Thursday it aimed to overhaul its law on medically-assisted reproduction to legalise egg donations and give broader access to sperm donations.
Currently egg donations are not allowed and only married couples can access sperm donations.
The Swiss parliament has long said it wants to change that, and has asked the government with coming up with a proposal to provide broader access.
A government statement said it had “decided to completely revise the law on medically assisted reproduction in order to adapt it to the current context” and had asked the interior ministry to draft a proposed law by the end of next year.
The government said it wants to legalise egg donations in cases where a woman in a couple is infertile, as a parallel to the already legal use of sperm donations in cases of male sterility.
Bern said its priority was “the protection of donors and the welfare of the child”, stressing that “this protection cannot be guaranteed if parents resort to egg donation abroad”.
The government also said it wanted to expand access to both egg and sperm donation to unmarried couples.
After Switzerland legalised same-sex marriage in 2022, married lesbian couples have also had access to sperm donations.
But the government said the current law barring unmarried couples from access to such medically assisted reproduction was “outdated and no longer corresponds to social reality”.
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