WHAT IS LASSA FEVER

🔴 Lassa fever is actively spreading across Nigeria. This is what you need to know right now.

What is Lassa fever?

Lassa fever is a serious illness spread by a virus that lives inside a common rat found all over West Africa. These rats get into homes, shops, markets, and storage areas, and wherever they go, they leave behind urine and droppings that carry the virus. You do not need to see or touch a rat to get infected. Simply eating food those rats have been near is enough to make you seriously ill. It is not new, Nigeria has dealt with it every year but 2026 is turning out to be one of the deadliest seasons in recent memory.

How do you get contaminated?

1. Eating food rats have touched : Rice, garri, beans, and maize stored in open bags or on the floor are easy targets. Rats urinate on them, and you eat the virus without knowing.
2. Touching rat droppings or urine : Cleaning the house, moving furniture, or even sweeping in a rat-infested space can expose you, especially if you touch your face or mouth afterwards.
3. Handling or eating bushmeat : Rats caught and cooked as food are a direct contamination route. Handle them with bare hands and you are already at risk.
4. Contact with a sick person : Being very close to someone who already has Lassa fever, touching their blood, sweat, saliva, or vomit without protection can pass the virus to you.
5. Food dried on the ground or roadside : Leaving grain, pepper, or any food to dry outdoors on the floor is an open invitation for rats. Once they contaminate it, cooking alone may not make it safe.

What does it feel like?

This is what makes Lassa fever dangerous; it starts out feeling exactly like malaria or typhoid. Many people brush it off, take paracetamol, and wait. By the time they realise something is seriously wrong, the disease has already progressed.

Watch out for: sudden high fever, severe headache, extreme tiredness, sore throat, chest and stomach pain, vomiting and diarrhoea, swelling of the face, and unexplained bleeding.

Where is it spreading and how bad is it?

• 663 confirmed cases in 2026
• 167 people have died
• 22 states are affected

States recording the most cases:

• Bauchi — 38%
• Taraba — 22%
• Ondo — 20%
• Edo — 9%
• Benue — 5%

How do you protect yourself and your family?

✅ Store all food in sealed containers. Never leave rice, garri, beans, or any grain open or on the floor. Rats will find it.

✅ Do not dry food on the ground or roadside. It is an easy way for rats to contaminate what you will later eat.

✅ Block all holes that could lead rats into your house.

✅ Dispose of rubbish properly and far from your home. Rubbish attracts rats. Keep your surroundings clean.

✅ Do not handle dead rats with bare hands. Use gloves or wrap your hands in a plastic bag if you have to move them.

✅ If someone in your home is ill, avoid touching their body fluids. Wear gloves, keep your distance, and take them to a hospital without delay.

✅ Go to a health facility early. Lassa fever is treatable, but only if you go in time. Do not treat it at home and hope for the best.

If you are in an affected state and you develop a fever alongside any of these signs, do not wait. Go to a health facility immediately.

Data source: NCDC Epidemiological Week 13 Report, April 2026