This file photo shows World Health Organization team educate locals on hygiene and preventive measures during a house-to-house search for new cholera cases in Mubi town, Adamawa state, Nigeria, on June 6, 2018.(Photo: Xinhua)

The death toll of Lassa fever in Nigeria in 2022 has risen to 86 amid government measures to reduce infections, the Nigeria Center for Disease Control (NCDC) said on Saturday.

The disease control agency said in a statement that 21 additional deaths and 91 new infections were recorded in the country on February 14-21.

The case fatality rate in the country so far in 2022 has reached 19.1 percent, which is lower than the 27.5 percent recorded for the same period in 2021, the NCDC said.

Lassa fever is usually transmitted when the saliva, urine, and excreta of multi-mammalian rats come into contact with humans. Human-to-human transmission is rare but can occur through contact with the body fluids of an infected person.

In some cases, Lassa fever has similar symptoms to malaria, appearing between one and three weeks after exposure to the virus. In mild cases, the disease causes fever, fatigue, weakness, and headache.

The NCDC said it remained committed to supporting state public health teams to achieve the goal of reducing the Lassa fever case fatality rate to a single digit. The agency said it is currently distributing medical response commodities to states and treatment centers, as part of measures to control the spread of the disease.

Xinhua