Nigeria’s Lassa fever outbreak has claimed 229 lives in 2026, with the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (NCDC) reporting a fresh rise in infections after 25 new confirmed cases were recorded within one week across five states.
According to the NCDC’s Lassa Fever Situation Report for Epidemiological Week 28, confirmed infections increased from 14 cases in Week 27 to 25 cases in Week 28, with new cases reported in Ondo, Bauchi, Edo, Kogi, and Cross River states.
The report revealed that between Epidemiological Weeks 1 and 28, Nigeria recorded 963 confirmed cases from 6,554 suspected infections.
The agency also disclosed that the country’s case fatality rate (CFR) has risen to 23.8 per cent, significantly higher than the 18.7 per cent recorded during the same period in 2025, highlighting the severity of the current outbreak.
The NCDC further reported that one healthcare worker contracted the disease during the reporting week, underscoring the continued occupational risks faced by frontline medical personnel responding to the outbreak.
According to the report, 23 states and 114 Local Government Areas have recorded at least one confirmed case this year.
The agency said Ondo, Bauchi, Taraba, Edo, and Benue account for 86 per cent of all confirmed Lassa fever infections nationwide.
Breaking down the figures, the NCDC stated that Ondo State accounts for 31 per cent of confirmed cases, followed by Bauchi (25 per cent), Taraba (14 per cent), Edo (10 per cent), and Benue (6 per cent).
The report also showed that young adults aged between 21 and 30 years remain the most affected age group.
Patients infected this year ranged from one to 93 years old, with a median age of 30 years.
The NCDC attributed the persistently high fatality rate to several factors, including the late presentation of patients at health facilities, poor health-seeking behaviour partly driven by the high cost of treatment, inadequate environmental sanitation in high-burden communities, and low public awareness of the disease.
The agency urged healthcare workers to maintain a high level of suspicion when treating patients with symptoms consistent with Lassa fever to ensure early diagnosis and prompt referral.
“Healthcare workers should maintain high suspicion for Lassa fever and initiate timely referral and treatment while adhering strictly to infection prevention and control procedures,” the NCDC advised.
It also called on state governments to strengthen year-round public awareness campaigns and community engagement, particularly in communities where the disease is endemic.
To contain the outbreak, the NCDC said the national multi-partner Incident Management System remains active, coordinating surveillance, case management, laboratory diagnosis, infection prevention and control, risk communication, and community engagement activities.
Among the recent interventions, the agency said it has trained frontline healthcare workers with support from the World Health Organization (WHO), Africa CDC, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), FHI 360, and other partners.
It also deployed National Rapid Response Teams to seven high-burden states, strengthened infection prevention programmes, distributed personal protective equipment (PPE) to health facilities, and carried out community sensitisation campaigns targeting farmers, market women, traditional rulers, and religious leaders.
The NCDC further disclosed that it had developed a 30-day Healthcare Worker Protection Plan aimed at reducing infections among frontline personnel, while updated infection prevention and control guidelines have been distributed nationwide.
Reiterating the importance of early treatment, the agency urged Nigerians experiencing persistent fever or symptoms suggestive of Lassa fever, particularly those living in endemic areas, to seek immediate medical attention.
It also called on state governments and development partners to intensify surveillance, improve public awareness, and sustain coordinated response efforts to curb the further spread of the disease.
