Miss Aisha Jimoh, who was confirmed to have contracted the dreaded Lassa fever disease in Kogi State, at the weekend, is dead.
Her brother, Asipita, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lokoja that Aisha, 18, died in the early hours of yesterday, at the Irua General Hospital in Edo, where she was rushed to.
Jimoh said that his family was contacted on the development, shortly after Aisha, a student of the Muslim Community Secondary School, Lokoja, died.
Jimoh, who disclosed this at his family house at Gadumo Layout in Lokoja, said Aisha’s sickness started about five days ago.
He said that she was taken to the Federal Medical Centre (FMC), Lokoja from where she was transferred to the General Hospital in Edo.
“We lost our parents about two years ago and we have lost our sister again,” he cried.
He added that other members of the family would need medical assistance to stop the spread of the disease. Authorities at FMC, Lokoja, had, on September 3, suspected that Aisha might have contracted Lassa fever and had, consequently, referred her to the General Hospital, Irua for confirmatory test and treatment.
Kogi Commissioner for Health, Dr Saka Audu, later said Aisha tested positive to Lassa fever. He said that the state government was working on tracking people who might have had come into contact with her.
On August 17, Kogi government debunked reports of outbreak of Lassa fever in the state. There were reports of outbreak of a strange disease in Okuran, Okoloke and Isanlu in the Yagba West Local Government Area of the state.