Lassa fever is killing a larger share of patients this year even as new infections taper, the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention said on Wednesday. The case fatality rate jumped to 24.8 per cent in epidemiological week 14 of 2026, up from 18.8 per cent recorded in the same week of 2025, while confirmed cases slipped from 26 to 22 in the latest seven-day tally. The NCDC's report shows 170 Nigerians have already died of the disease this year, with 22 states and 94 local government areas affected. Bauchi leads with 27 per cent of confirmed cases, followed by Ondo (22 per cent), Taraba (18 per cent) and Edo (nine per cent); together with Benue these five states account for 84 per cent of the national burden. Victims span every age, but the 21–30 bracket is worst hit and males slightly outnumber females. Healthcare workers also recorded fresh infections during the week, flagging lapses in infection-prevention routines. Rapid-response teams have been sent to seven high-burden states and treatment centres are being resupplied with Ribavirin and protective gear, yet late hospital visits, steep treatment bills and poor sanitation continue to fuel deaths.
A 24.8 per cent fatality rate for a disease that has had an effective antiviral for decades is not a medical mystery—it is a governance indictment. Bauchi, Ondo and Taraba keep topping the casualty chart because primary-care centres in those states still treat fever with chloroquine and prayer first, then refer patients to tertiary hospitals when kidneys start shutting down.
The NCDC's own data give the game away: confirmed cases fell but deaths rose, meaning people who finally reach a proper facility arrive too late for Ribavirin to work. Add the fresh infections among health-workers and the picture is clear: isolation wards remain glorified general wards, personal protective equipment is still rationed, and state epidemiologists are ghost-workers on paper only.
For families living between the Niger and the Benue, this translates to a simple brutal equation: one member catches Lassa, everyone scrambles to find ₦70,000–₦100,000 for the first two days of drugs, or they start digging a grave. Until state governors stop treating disease surveillance as an Abuja problem and fund local governments to keep rat populations down, the virus will keep harvesting the young and poor.
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