A male nurse at Dalhatu Araf Specialist Hospital, Lafia, Mr Oshafu Ibrahim, who treated the index case of Lassa fever outbreak in Nasarawa state, has died of the disease.
The Chairman of the state’s Rapid Response Task Force from the Ministry of Health, Dr Ibrahim Adamu, confirmed this to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Wednesday in Lafia.
Adamu said that the nurse died on Tuesday, having contracted the disease through the index case in December 2015.
He described the death of the nurse as a colossal loss at a time when all efforts were being made to curtail the spread of the disease in the state.
The chairman called on healthcare providers not to be demoralised by the death of their colleague in carrying out their duty of saving lives.
He urged the health workers to always observe the universal protection practice of hand washing and wearing of safety kits while attending to patients.
The chairman said that adequate safety kits have been provided for health workers by the Federal and State governments to check the spread of the disease.
NAN reports that the death of the nurse brings to two deaths caused by Lassa fever since December 2015 when disease broke out in the state.
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