APIN doctor dies after refusing hospital admission as state resets 42-day outbreak countdown

By Felix Umande, Makurdi

A senior medical doctor with the AIDS Prevention Initiative in Nigeria, APIN, has died of complications from Lassa fever in Konshisha Local Government Area of Benue State, setting back the state’s plans to declare the outbreak over.

The State Commissioner for Health and Human Services, Dr. Paul Ejeh-Ogwuche, confirmed the death on Monday in Makurdi, saying the ministry had activated contact tracing and surveillance measures in response to the case.

Ogwuche said the deceased, who hailed from Kwande LGA but worked with APIN Foundation in Konshisha, struggled with the illness for over two weeks before his condition worsened. A Lassa fever test returned positive after a friend suggested his symptoms pointed to the viral disease.

According to the commissioner, the doctor declined admission at Benue State University Teaching Hospital, Makurdi, and opted for home treatment with drugs and injections despite repeated advice from health officials to seek proper evaluation at the facility.

Initial investigations showed the patient had already developed kidney complications. He was later referred to the University of Jos Teaching Hospital in Plateau State, where he died.

His remains were returned to Benue and buried on Saturday, June 20, 2026, in line with Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention burial protocols.

Ogwuche said the death occurred just as Benue was preparing to be declared free of Lassa fever after completing a 42-day incubation monitoring period. The new case means a fresh cycle of observation must now begin before any declaration can be made.

“We have been doing sensitisation, checking our facilities, and heightening surveillance. In this case, we have also commenced case investigation and contact tracing,” the commissioner said.

He added that health authorities had been placed on alert following recent updates on other infectious disease threats, including Ebola, while surveillance had been strengthened across health facilities to prevent further spread.

Lassa fever is an acute viral illness transmitted mainly through contact with food or household items contaminated by infected rodents. Health officials are urging residents to maintain proper hygiene, store food safely, and report early symptoms to the nearest health facility.

By Isa Abdul

Benue state buried one of its health workers, late Dr Vitalis Tersoo Azever, on Sunday, as a result of lasser fever virus infection.

His body was laid to rest at his home town in Kwande local government area of Benue State

Benue Ministry of Health and Human Services officials said the Safe burial team carried out the burial in line with burial protocols of Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (NCDC).

Dr Azever died at the University of Jos University Teaching after contracting the disease in the course of duty in Benue.

Epidemiologist of the state, Dr Asema Msuega, confirmed this on Galaxy TV News, saying out of 63 positive cases so far, 15 have died, while 15 health workers were affected including 7 doctors, 4 nurses, 1 pharmacist, and 2 community health extension workers (CHEWs) as well as a hospital portal..

Dr Msuega, further confirmed that out of the 15 health workers who contracted lassa fever, three have died. He warned residents to observe all protocols of cleanliness at home and in food consumption.

The epidemiologist warned Benue residents to be careful as the hemorrhagic illness is caused by lassa virus by multimamate rat through contamination of food and items by its urine or faeces. He urged the people to report to the hospital when they notice any signs and symptoms of the disease.

Google is asking for permission to release millions of sterilized mosquitoes in order to fight their disease-spreading counterparts

Through its parent company, Alphabet, Google wants U.S. Environmental Protection Agency approval to release up to 32 million mosquitoes in California and Florida. That might sound apocalyptic, but the request is part of the tech giant’s Debug program to eliminate disease-carrying mosquitoes.

Mosquitoes are the world’s deadliest animal. They spread malaria, dengue fever, West Nile virus and other fatal diseases to millions of people each year. The Debug project wants to tackle this issue by releasing male mosquitoes—which don’t bite or carry disease—to stop these “bad mosquitoes,” like Aedes aegypti.

The “good” bugs will be infected with a naturally occurring bacteria called Wolbachia, which will make them sterile. When one of these males tries to mate with a “bad” female, the eggs won’t hatch. “Over time, there will be fewer and fewer bad mosquitoes,” per the program’s website.

This approach isn’t unique—it’s a known method called the sterile insect technique, and has been used in the United States for more than 60 years.

According to the International Atomic Energy Agency, it’s an environmentally friendly insect pest control method that has been successful in controlling pests like fruit flies, screwworms and moths.

“It’s really a genius technique that has been used to completely eradicate or reduce numbers of serious pests and vectors,” says Chris Grinter, an entomologist at the California Academy of Sciences, to Matthew Brown at SFGate.

Did you know? Mosquitoes have been biting humans for more than one million years

A study published in the journal Scientific Reports in February 2026 found that the Anopheles leucosphyrus group of mosquitoes, in Southeast Asia, evolved a taste for human blood between 1.6 million and 2.9 million years ago, which is much earlier than previously thought.
It’s also not Debug’s first attempt at this. Verily, formerly an Alphabet subsidiary and an early driver behind the project, released millions of sterilized males in California in 2017. The project is also seeing success in Singapore, where it has supported the National Environment Agency’s Project Wolbachia since 2018. In a May 2026 blog post, Debug says Project Wolbachia has “achieved 80-90 percent suppression” of the Aedes aegypti mosquito population and “more than 70 percent reduction in dengue incidents after 6 to 12 months of releases.”

Aedes aegypti, the mosquito targeted by the program, is not native to California or Florida, so no animals rely on it for food. “If Google began to target native mosquito species, then I would be concerned with cascading environmental consequences,” explains Nathan Burkett-Cadena, an ecologist at the University of Florida, to Carla Bleiker at DW.

Still, some experts have raised concerns about the ethical implications of mosquito eradication. “If we were to intentionally set out to cause the extinction of a species, we should think about that,” said Henry Greely, a Stanford law professor and bioethicist, to Jerry Adler at Smithsonian in 2016. “I would want there to be some consideration and reflection, and a social consensus, before we take that step.”

Others, however, believe humans have a responsibility to control their numbers. “The thing is, Aedes aegypti is a species that we have caused to spread,” says Matthew DeGennaro, a neurogeneticist at Florida International University, to DW. “They have followed us around the world. They’re like the cockroaches or rats of the mosquito world. If the climate is right and humans are there, you’ll find Aedes aegypti. So we have an obligation to control them.”

Google’s timeline for the release of the mosquitoes is still unclear. A notice from the federal register shows that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is reviewing the company’s request and accepting public comments until June 5.