Blessing Ilobekemen Otobhiale2,
Francis Osemhoahu Erah1
,
Marvellous Chidube Mogbolu1,
Balqees Endurance Momodu1,
Bodeno Ehis3,
Collette Elechi4
For correspondence:- Francis Erah Email: francozenith@yahoo.com Tel: +2348033546812
Published: 07 December 2021
Citation: Otobhiale BI, Erah FO, Mogbolu MC, Momodu BE, Ehis B, Elechi C. Prevalence of Lassa fever and Yellow fever during COVID-19 in 2020 in a tertiary health facility located in a rural south-south Nigeria. Trop J Med Dent Pract 2021; 2(4):93-98 doi: 10.47227/tjmdp.v2i4.2
© 2021 The author(s).
This is an Open Access article that uses a funding model which does not charge readers or their institutions for access and distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0) and the Budapest Open Access Initiative (http://www.budapestopenaccessinitiative.org/read), which permit unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly credited..
Introduction: Lassa fever outbreaks has continuously occurred annually and currently declared endemic in Nigeria. Yellow fever remains a public health emergency since there is no definitive treatment but only symptomatic management. COVID-19 outbreak in 2020 became one of the deadliest pandemics the world has experienced in decades. Due to the synergistic epidemic of COVID-19 and other infectious diseases such as Lassa fever and Yellow fever, Nigeria faces a potential public health crisis.
Objective: To determine the prevalence of Lassa fever, COVID-19 and Yellow fever among all admitted patients in a tertiary health facility between January to December 2020.
Methods: Out of a total of 12,748 patients admitted in the health facility in 2020, all accessible case notes of those diagnosed of Lassa fever, COVID-19 and Yellow fever between January and December 2020 were retrieved and their socio-demographic variables were then recorded on a spreadsheet. Data were entered and analyzed using Statistical Package for Scientific Solution (SPSS version 23) using descriptive and inferential statistics.
Results: 614 had Lassa fever, 177 had COVID-19 and none had Yellow fever giving a prevalence rate of 3.26%, 1.39% and 0% respectively. The prevalence rate in the first, second, third and fourth quarter of the year for Lassa fever were 2.69%,0.22% and 0.29% respectively while the prevalence rate in the first, second, third and fourth quarter for COVID -19 were 0%, 0.66% and 0.13% respectively. The prevalence of Lassa fever dropped drastically during the outbreak of COVID-19 from the 2nd quarter up to end of 3rd quarter of 2020 but started to rise again in the fourth quarter when cases of COVID-19 started declining.
Conclusion: The prevalence of Lassa fever was high in the first quarter of 2020 but decreased during the outbreak of COVID-19 when no Yellow fever cases were reported.
