The Borno State government says it has taken precautionary measures to prevent the spread of Lassa fever into the state.
The commissioner for health in Borno, Dr Haruna Mshelia, stated this at a press briefing in Maiduguri, the state capital yesterday.
Mshelia explained that part of the measures was total surveillance on internally displaced persons (IDPs) camps in the state in order to promptly detect any case.
The commissioner disclosed that the state government had also placed health institutions in the state on red alert to prevent the spread of the virus and had begun enlightenment campaigns across the state to educate the people on the dangers of the virus, which has so far claimed 44 lives and is currently in 10 states of the federation.
He further said that the community health workers had also been trained on how to handle suspected cases of the disease to prevent spread, adding that the measures followed the recent discovery of the disease in the neighbouring states of Bauchi, Gombe and Taraba where a number of people had tested positive to the virus.
