The management of the Obafemi Awolowo University Teaching Hospital Complex has confirmed the fears of the hospital’s workers and residents that the doctor who died on Monday after vomiting blood was infected with the dreaded Lassa fever virus.
The chairman of the hospital’s Committee on Lassa fever, Adedeji Onayade, confirmed on Wednesday that blood samples sent to a laboratory tested positive to the disease.
According to him, only the first test had been carried out and that it was positive.
“We have a report back and the result came as positive. We were supposed to do two tests but the patient was dying when we took the first sample,” he said.
“We can’t do the second test now. So we can say it is 50 per cent but we are going ahead to take necessary steps. We have informed all those who should know.”
He said the hospital had taken appropriate measures to stem the situation, noting that there was no need for panic.
The strike action currently in place in Osun has heightened fears among residents that the situation might grow worse.
When the doctor was confirmed dead on Monday, some doctors, nurses, medical personnel and patients at the Emergency Unit of the hospital where the doctor died hurriedly vacated the unit apparently for fear of contracting the highly contagious viral disease.
A medical doctor in the hospital who preferred anonymity said the doctor had visited Ekiti State before arriving Ile-Ife on Monday.
The authorities of the hospital had earlier denied that the doctor died as a result of Lassa fever.