Segun Akanni, Toronto, Canada 
The Nigerian Medical Association has said that the Osun and Ondo states’ ministries of health in conjunction with the association have placed about 40 persons that had contact with a patient recently killed by Lassa fever under close watch.The Chairman of the NMA in Osun State, Dr. Tokunbo Olajumoke, made the disclosure on Monday in an interview with journalists after an awareness campaign at markets and other places in Osogbo, the Osun State capital.Olajumoke said the deceased who was referred from Ondo State to a hospital in Osun State eventually died and the two states had traced those he had contact with in the two states and had been watching them to see if they would develop signs of the deadly virus.The NMA chairman said, “The patient was referred to Osun State from Ondo State and he eventually died. That is the only death recorded so far in Osun State.“About 40 persons that had contact with the dead are being followed up to see if they are going to develop the symptoms of Lassa fever. About 40 are being followed up and half of them are in Osun while the remaining others are in Ondo State.”Olajumoke advised Nigerians to live in neat environment and ensure that their foodstuffs were always kept away from where rats could reach, saying they should prevent the urine and faeces of rats from coming in contact with their food and drinks.The Commissioner for Health in Osun State, Dr. Rafiu Isamot, when contacted on the telephone promised to comment on it but he had yet to do so as of the time of filing this report.The Media Adviser to the Osun State Governor, Mr. Sola Fasure, had about two weeks ago said in a statement that the patient who was killed by the virus was not an indigene of the state.He said the man came from Ore in the Odigbo Local Government Area of Ondo State but eventually died at the OAUTHC.Meanwhile, the Vice-Chancellor of the Achievers University, Owo, Ondo State, Prof. Samuel Ibiyemi, has declared that the university has no record of the deadly Lassa fever despite the reported spread of the disease in the Owo Local Government Area where the school is located.He said, “As a university, if there is a problem in the society, we should be able to render assistance to overcome such challenges. We also see it as a social responsibility of the university to be in direct contact constantly with the immediate community.“This is what has informed the role our university has been playing on the Lassa fever for the last few weeks in this community.”
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