'47 years after discovery in Borno, Lassa fever is still a tragedy to Nigeria'- Prof. Wale Tomori

A one-day symposium on Lassa Fever held on Monday  April 25, 2016  at the Nigerian Institute of Medical Research, NIMR, Yaba, Lagos. Experts of the subject in Nigeria gathered to talk about the issue as well as what has been done, and the way forward.  We at HealthJourno were at the event, here is part 1 of our coverage.


Those present were the Chairman, Lassa Fever Control Committee in Nigeria, Prof. Oyewale; President, Bioresources  Development Group, Prof. Maurice Iwu; Dean, College of Postgraduate Studies, Department of Biological Sciences, Redeemer’s University, Ede, Osun State, Prof. Christian Happi; and  The Director-General of NIMR, Prof.  Innocent Ujah was the host of the symposium.

Prof. Tomori in his presentation,  said that the recurrent Lassa fever outbreak in Nigeria is akin to a  national embarrassment and that it will be no exaggeration to describe it as a continuing national tragedy unlike the Health Minister, Prof. Adewole, who had earlier described the situation as a national embarrassment.  He also said that Nigerians should be ashamed of themselves.

Expressing dissatisfaction, the Chairman, Lassa Fever Control Committee in Nigeria, Prof. Oyewale Tomori, who is President of the Nigeria Academic of Science, NAS, observed that Lassa fever that has been claiming lives over the past 47 years, since it was discovered in Borno state in 1969,  without concrete strategies to bring it under control,

Prof. Oyewale Tomori said the break down in disease surveillance did not make the country notice that Lassa fever has consistently brought sorrow, pains and agony to several homes.

“If you are not hearing of new cases, it is not that the disease is not occurring, but because our disease surveillance is not up to par. “We deceive ourselves that it’s a seasonal disease, but the fact remains that it occurs throughout the year even though there are seasonal upsurges.

According to him, some of the reasons for the epidemic is that we abandoned and neglected the Disease Surveillance and Control Act, we ran our laboratory services aground, disdained excellence and uplifted mediocrity.

At least three people are diagnosed of Lassa fever daily somewhere in the country.” Further, Tomori said: “We have little value for life, until more than 100 people die, it is not an emergency, For many years Lassa fever has been with us but we don’t take it serious.

In other parts of the world, when a single person dies of a disease, it is a national emergency. For how long are we going to continue to call tragedy an embarrassment?

 Surveillance

We abandon disease surveillance and control activities; there was a time people worked together, the laboratories at Ibadan, the Ministry of Health, NIMR, joined forces to protect the country.

In the 60’s to 80’s at Ibadan, we produced every reagent we needed in the country. We did not depend on importation. But now we are lazy and everybody wants to make money from importation.”

In his explanation, he said six to seven laboratories in the country cannot give proper results. “This is due to lack of support. The only few that function in the country have the support of partner agencies and backing from abroad,” he noted.