Lassa fever kills 15 in early February, death toll hits 51– NCDC
Lassa fever claimed 15 lives in the first week of February, pushing the total number of deaths recorded between the first and sixth epidemiological weeks of 2026 to 51. The
Lassa fever claimed 15 lives in the first week of February, pushing the total number of deaths recorded between the first and sixth epidemiological weeks of 2026 to 51.
The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (NCDC), in its latest situation report, stated that the 51 deaths from confirmed cases recorded between February 2 and 8, 2026 translate to a Case Fatality Rate (CFR) of 21.3 per cent. This is higher than the 19.4 per cent CFR reported during the same period in 2025.
The report noted that the increase in fatality rate occurred despite a decline in overall infections compared to the corresponding period last year.
It also disclosed that two additional healthcare workers were infected in week six of the outbreak.
Cumulative data for 2026 show that 1,034 suspected cases, 240 confirmed cases and four probable cases have been reported across 10 states and 42 Local Government Areas.
In contrast, during the corresponding period in 2025, Nigeria recorded 1,913 suspected cases, 413 confirmed cases and 80 deaths across 11 States and 63 LGAs.
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In the latest reporting week alone, 15 deaths were recorded from 74 confirmed infections out of 271 suspected cases, resulting in a weekly CFR of 20.3 percent.
The confirmed cases increased from 44 recorded in epidemiological week 5 to 74 in week 6, indicating a week-on-week rise in infections.
The new confirmed cases were reported from eight States of Taraba, Ondo, Bauchi, Edo, Benue, Nasarawa, Kogi and Ebonyi affecting 24 LGAs.
Further analysis of the cumulative data showed that 89 percent of confirmed infections in 2026 were concentrated in Bauchi, Taraba, Ondo and Edo, while the remaining 11 percent were reported from six other States.
Bauchi accounted for 38 percent of confirmed cases, followed by Taraba with 22 percent, Ondo with 20 percent and Edo with nine percent.
The predominant age group affected is 21 to 30 years, within an overall age range of one to 74 years and a median age of 29 years.
The male-to-female ratio among confirmed cases stands at 1:0.7.
Meanwhile, according to the agency, the National Lassa Fever multi-partner, multi-sectoral Incident Management System has been activated to support coordination of response activities at all levels.
