By Ilayda Cakirtekin
ISTANBUL (AA) – Nigeria has raised a health alert over a Lassa fever outbreak after confirming 10 deaths and 54 new cases within the past week.
The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (NCDC) published a report detailing the new cases in the first week of 2025.
Lassa fever cases typically rise during the dry season, which runs from November to May. In 2024, the outbreak in Nigeria resulted in nearly 191 deaths.
First identified in Nigeria's northeastern Borno state in 1969, Lassa fever is also widespread in several other African nations, including Mali, Togo, Ghana, Liberia, and Sierra Leone.
On Jan. 23, 2019, the Nigerian government declared a state of emergency in response to the outbreak.
Lassa fever, which spreads through contact with rat feces and human-to-human transmission, can cause fatal hemorrhagic fever.
The NCDC urged the public to avoid contact with rats and to wash hands regularly.