Lassa fever ‘kills one’ in Nigeria

At least one person has died and two others quarantined following the outbreak of Lassa fever in the north-eastern Nigerian state of Taraba, health officials say.

Blood samples of those affected have been taken for further testing, state commissioner of health Innocent Vakkai said.

Last week, authorities in the northern city of Kano confirmed the virus there but no casualties have been reported so far.

About 10 people, including a doctor and two nurses, were killed in Taraba in February 2012 in a similar outbreak.

Lassa fever is endemic in West Africa, where hundreds of thousands of people are infected each year.

The most common complication of the virus is deafness and it is transmitted to humans from rodents that harbour the virus.