Cleanzine: your weekly cleaning and hygiene industry newsletter 18th April 2024 Issue no. 1110
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UK Public Health Rapid Support Team deploys to Nigeria
The UK Public Health Rapid Support Team (UK-PHRST), a joint run effort of Public Health England and the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, is deploying to Nigeria to help control an unusually severe epidemic of Lassa fever.
Humans usually become infected with Lassa virus from exposure to urine or faeces of infected rodents that are unique to Africa. The virus may also be spread between humans through direct contact with the blood, urine, faeces, or other bodily secretions of an infected person, though this tends to be less common.
Typical symptoms include fever, sore throat, headache, abdominal pain and diarrhoea, with bleeding and shock in severe cases. The public health risk to the UK is low.
The outbreak is most prevalent in the southern Nigerian states of Edo, Ondo and Ebonyi and given its size of the current outbreak and the risk of further spread locally, the government of Nigeria has requested support from the UK-PHRST team and the deployment includes an expert in patient management, two epidemiologists (experts in tracking outbreaks) and a logistician.
The UK-PHRST will provide technical and analytical support for the public health response to control this outbreak, and will also assist with important research on Lassa fever that can provide insight for controlling the disease in the future.
The team will be working alongside the Nigerian Centre for Disease Control, the World Health Organisation (WHO), and other experts in outbreak control to support the Nigerian government's response.
"The Lassa fever situation in Nigeria has been worsening and now requires an escalated level of response in order to help the Nigerian government slow transmission and save lives," says Professor Daniel Bausch, Director of the UK PHRST. "We are proud to be assisting the government of Nigeria by offering specialist support that will benefit the country both in the immediate and long term."
Public Health Minister Steve Brine MP, explains further:
"Viruses like Lassa fever do not respect borders - and it is only right that we share our expertise with countries facing serious outbreaks around the world. Our invaluable Rapid Support Team will provide help on the ground in Nigeria to manage the spread of the virus, and grow the country's ability to protect itself from other dangerous diseases."
The UK PHRST is funded by the UK government. It continually monitors infectious diseases and other hazards globally, identifying situations where the deployment of specialist expertise could prevent these threats from turning into a global outbreak. It also conducts outbreak-related research and focuses on building in-country capacity to prevent outbreaks with overseas partners.
1st March 2018