Jigawa village residents flee as five die of illness suspected to be Lassa fever

The people of Jikai village of Sule-Tankarkar Local Government Area of Jigawa State have deserted their community following the loss of five people to malaria, the News Agency of Nigeria reports.
The deceased included four children and an adult.
NAN gathered that residents of the community were apprehensive that the victims might have died of Lassa fever and not malaria, thus prompting their relocation to other villages.
Alhaji Sulaiman Doro, the council’s Information Officer, told NAN in Dutse on Friday that the local government’s Caretaker Committee Chairman, Alhaji Nasidi Musa, had visited the village to condole with the bereaved families.
According to Doro, the chairman expressed dissatisfaction with the rumour that the victims died of Lassa fever or Ebola disease.
The spokesman quoted Musa as saying that the blood samples of the affected persons confirmed that it was malaria that afflicted the village.
Musa advised parents in the area to take their children and relations to health facilities close to them for testing should there be any symptoms of fever.
NAN.