Pregnant Women Face Higher Risk Of Lassa Fever

With the recent outbreak of Lassa fever in Nigeria, the Wellbeing Foundation Africa (WBFA) on Friday, January 15, 2016 has
urged awareness of Lassa fever in pregnancy and its prevention.
Focusing on the effect of Lassa fever on pregnancy, the Wellbeing Foundation Africa said that pregnant women, especially those in the third trimester of pregnancy, face a higher risk of contracting the disease.
According to the organization, it causes mortality in 95 per cent of cases. As studies have indicated, the increased likelihood of mortality at this stage of pregnancy is due to immunosuppression associated with the third trimester of
pregnancy.
The Lassa virus causing fever can be transmitted through contact with an infected rodent or contact with the bodily
secretions of an infected person, including mother-to-child transmission and consumption of infected food items.
The foundation, led by Toyin Saraki, the wife of the Senate president, emphasised the importance of hand-washing and
rodent control, while warning against contact with infected bodily fluids to prevent Lassa fever.

The disease has already claimed at least 41 lives from the nearly 100 reported cases in at least ten states of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. The foundation has released info-graphics and behaviour-change indicators to equip the general public with critical information that can potentially save lives.
In light of the prodigious threat posed by Lassa fever to an already fragile public healthcare system, the Wellbeing
Foundation Africa also aims to facilitate capacity building for healthcare workers, especially in the areas of reproductive,
maternal, newborn, child and adolescent health, in order to minimize morbidities and mortalities resulting from the disease.
Source: naij.com