The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention has recorded 717 confirmed Lassa fever cases out of 4,881 suspected cases from January to May 4, 2025, in 18 states, across 93 local government areas.
This was revealed in the latest situation report by the NCDC on its website on Wednesday, 14th May.
The country has recorded 138 deaths with a Case Fatality Rate of 19.3 per cent.
The states with reported death cases are Ondo (27); Bauchi (15); Edo (19); Taraba (34); Ebonyi (11); Kogi (four); Gombe (seven), Plateau (five), Benue (five), Nasarawa (four), Kaduna (two), Enugu (one), Delta (two), Cross-River (one), and Ogun (one).
The natural reservoir for the virus is the multimammate rat (also known as the African rat), even though other rodents can also act as carriers.
The report partly read, “In week 18, the number of new confirmed cases decreased from 11 in epi week 17, of 2025, to 10. These were reported in Ondo, Edo, Bauchi and Benue States.
In a total of 18 weeks in 2025, 138 deaths have been recorded with a CFR of 19.2 per cent which is higher than the CFR for the same period in 2024 (18.0 per cent).
In total for 2025, 18 States have recorded at least one confirmed case across 93 Local Government Areas.”
28 per cent were reported from 15 states with confirmed Lassa fever cases while 71 per cent of all confirmed Lassa fever cases were reported from three states (Ondo, Bauchi and Taraba)
Additionally, it was said that the 71 per cent confirmed cases, Ondo reported 30 per cent, Bauchi 25 per cent, and Taraba 16 per cent.
The primarily affected age group is 21-30 years (Range: 1 to 96 years, Median Age: 30 years); and the female-to-male ratio for confirmed cases is 0.8:1
“The number of suspected and confirmed cases decreased compared to that reported for the same period in 2024.
“No new healthcare worker was affected in the reporting week 18.
"The National Lassa fever multi-partner, multi-sectoral Incident Management System activated to coordinate the response activities at all levels,” it stated.