Lassa Fever Still around the Corner - UCTH

A 22-year-old woman, Mrs. Christabel Itodo, has died of Lassa fever at the University of Calabar Teaching Hospital, in Calabar, Cross River State.

Itodo, who is the wife of an army officer in Maiduguri, Borno State, was transferred from a hospital in Makurdi, Benue State, to the UCTH on Sunday.

The Chief Medical Director of UCTH, Prof. Thomas Agan, who confirmed the death of the patient, on Thursday, said she died of Lassa fever.

Agan said that the patient was first taken to the Army Clinic at the Eburutu Barracks in Calabar, where she spent four days and was later transferred to the Navy Hospital in Calabar, adding that her situation worsened before she was brought to the UCTH.

He said, “Mrs. Christabel Itodo took ill in Benue State and was hospitalised there before they brought her to Calabar. In Calabar here, they took her to Eburutu Clinic where she spent four days. The husband is a soldier, who worked in Calabar, but now posted to Maiduguri.

“From Eburutu, they transferred her to Navy Hospital where she started bleeding and later suffered kidney failure. On Sunday night, they brought her to the UCTH where we managed her for barely 12 hours but the kidneys packed up and she died.”

He said that the lady was not primarily a patient of UCTH, but that the hospital took care of her because of the kidney failure.