Following the worrisome outbreak of a life-threatening disease caused by rodents, Lassa fever, in neighbouring states, Rivers state has been certified free from the disease.

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The State Commissioner for Health, Professor Princewill Chike who made this known during a press briefing in Port Harcourt, the Rivers state capital, cautioned residents to adhere strictly to preventive measures to curtail the spread of Lassa fever to the state. 

 

Addresing journalists, Professor Chike disclosed that Lassa is caused by multi-breasted type of rat. He maintained that eighty percent of cases are in symptomatic stage, with no treatment for the virus. 

 

He discouraged self-medication by residents and charged them to visit the hospital regularly, noting that self-medication is not the best. 

However, the comissioner urged the general public to protect health workers and facilities, as the issue of kidnapping should stop.

 

Chike made the appeal following the recent cases of abduction of doctors across the state.