Following the outbreak of Lassa fever in Benin, United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and World Health Organization (WHO) officials in the country are scaling up an emergency response to help prevent further spread of the disease.
To date, there have been four confirmed and 52 suspected cases of the disease in Benin, resulting in 17 deaths – two of them health workers. The agencies noted that Government authorities have been on the alert since early January, when a pregnant woman with symptoms of the disease died and six health workers in the same hospital in central Benin showed similar symptoms. Earlier this month, several more cases were tested by the Nigerian reference laboratory and another three turned out to be positive. With support from WHO, UNICEF and humanitarian partners, national authorities in Benin have taken emergency measures in response to the outbreak, including setting up quarantine units in affected areas to isolate and treat victims; establishing a contact tracing system to find those who might have been exposed to the disease; and mobilizing a network of almost 200 community health workers across the country to monitor the contacts.
 

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