The Kano State Government, through the Director-General of the state Centre for Disease Control, Mohammed Adamu, on the night of Monday, 16 February, 2026 confirmed the death of one person and two additional infections following a Lassa fever outbreak in the state, reports thegazellenews.com.
Lassa fever is an acute viral haemorrhagic illness endemic to West Africa, caused by the Lassa virus and primarily transmitted to humans through contact with food, surfaces, or household items contaminated by the urine or faeces of infected Mastomys rats.
Common symptoms include fever, headache, general weakness, vomiting and, in severe cases, bleeding. About 25 per cent of survivors may experience permanent hearing loss.
There is currently no licensed vaccine for the disease, but treatment involves early supportive care and the antiviral drug ribavirin, which is most effective when administered promptly after infection.
Adamu, who confirmed the development while briefing journalists on the night of Monday, 16 February, 2026, said the deceased, a staff member of Médecins Sans Frontières, died from complications of the disease, while a doctor and another woman later contracted the infection after coming into contact with the victim.
“We recorded a case of Lassa fever but we were able to bring the situation under control, ” Adamu said, just as he also explained that the index case involved a French national who developed symptoms about a week after arriving in Nigeria.
“On the 28th January, a white woman from France, who worked with Médecins Sans Frontières. After a week of coming to Nigeria, she came down with a fever. She went to the hospital, where she was given medications.
“After three days, she discovered the illness was deteriorating as she was bleeding. So she went to a hospital, unfortunately, she passed away on that same day,” the DG said.
According to him, her remains were taken to the mortuary at Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital before authorities were notified.
“They moved her corpse to the mortuary at AKTH and later we were informed about the development. So we collected her blood sample to carry out a series of tests and she tested positive for Lassa fever,” he said, just as he also revealed that contact tracing identified more infections.
“We discovered a doctor from Minjibir who had earlier had an interface with her also came down with the infection and also one other woman, ” Adamu said, just as he also added that 62 contacts were traced across five local government areas.
“The two people had an interface with 62 people within five local government areas in the state. Out of the 62, we thought 25 were at risk of being infected. We took blood samples from 25 people, out of which 22 tested negative, while three tested positive. One is dead, two are in isolation,” he said.
Adamu noted that the female patient is isolated at AKTH, while the doctor is receiving treatment at the Yargaya isolation centre.
“We have deployed our personnel to intensify public enlightenment in Minjibir to sensitise the people, ” the DG said, just as he also said the Ministry of Environment would fumigate affected areas to eliminate rats, the primary carriers of the disease, and prevent further spread.
