CHO Emphasizes Prevention Against Lassa Fever
Bong County Health Officer Dr. Sampson Arzoaquoi has reiterated call for people to take more preventive measures against Lassa fever. Dr. Arzoaquoi expressed the belief that avoiding rats’ contacts with household utensils was important in the prevention of the sickness.
The County Health Officer maintained that it was difficult to treat Lassa fever, especially in its chronic stage, urging those in the habit of eating rats to desist from such habit adding their health is far better than the meat they get from rats.
“If you look at the meat the rat has, and then you look at the trouble behind the eating of the rat, there is no need to eat it,” the Bong County Health Officer warned.
Dr. Arzoaquoi stated that the sickness was alarming especially in Bong and Nimba Counties. The medical practitioner expressed the hope that residents of the two counties will make use of the continuous awareness being carried out by health workers in the counties. He noted that everyone had a role to play against Lassa fever, admonishing citizens to keep cats in their houses to drive the rats away.
Dr. Arzoaquoi also noted that the perception some people have about cat being witchcraft was far from the truth. “You and I are the witches and so let stop calling cats witches,” he mentioned. The Bong County Health Officer was speaking recently on the Phebe Compound in Suacoco, Bong County in an interview with journalists.
