Conference Abstract | Volume 8, Abstract ELIC2025233 (Poster 042) | Published: 31 Jul 2025
Nsonghomanyi Fritz Roland Fonkeng1,&, Hanesh Fru Chi1, Adama Ahmad2, Abdulmajid Musa2, Daniel Bausch1, Emmanuel Agogo1
1FIND, Geneva, Switzerland, 2Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, Abuja, Nigeria
&Corresponding author: Nsonghomanyi Fritz Roland Fonkeng, FIND Geneva, Switzerland. Email: fritz.fonkeng@finddx.org
Received: 01 Apr 2025, Accepted: 09 Jul 2025, Published: 31 Jul 2025
Domain: Infectious Disease Epidemiology, Laboratory Capacity Development
Keywords: Lassa fever, Laboratory network, Diagnostic expansion, Nigeria, Biosafety, Turnaround time
©Nsonghomanyi Fritz Roland Fonkeng et al. Journal of Interventional Epidemiology and Public Health (ISSN: 2664-2824). This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution International 4.0 License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Cite this article: Nsonghomanyi Fritz Roland Fonkeng et al., Expansion of the Lassa fever testing network in Nigeria. Journal of Interventional Epidemiology and Public Health. 2025;8(ConfProc5):00186. https://doi.org/10.37432/jieph-confpro5-00186
Lassa fever is a viral hemorrhagic illness affecting an estimated 300,000 individuals annually in West Africa, with recurring outbreaks in Nigeria. Its non-specific clinical presentation often mimics other endemic diseases, making laboratory confirmation essential. However, diagnostic capacity has historically been constrained due to the Lassa virus’s classification as a Category A pathogen, requiring high-containment (BSL-4) precautions. In low-resource settings like Nigeria, the scarcity of such facilities and trained personnel limits outbreak response. To address these challenges, Nigeria initiated a national program to expand Lassa fever testing capacity by increasing the number of equipped laboratories.
Launched in 2016, the national LASV diagnostic programme initially included three laboratories. By 2018, these were assigned defined geographical catchment areas. Laboratory sites were selected based on regional burden and testing gaps and underwent baseline safety and infrastructure assessments using a standard checklist developed by the National Reference Laboratory in Abuja. Only laboratories equipped with a BSL-3 glovebox were considered. Following selection, personnel received on-site training on standardized testing protocols. Laboratories were activated after achieving 100% concordance in blinded proficiency testing panels.
Between 2017 and 2022, five additional laboratories were activated, each with an average of seven trained personnel. Initial expansions focused on the southern regions, followed by scale-up in the North after increased case detection during the 2020 outbreak. The new laboratories enhanced diagnostic coverage in emerging hotspot zones. As a result, overall case detection increased, and national turnaround time for results decreased from 72 to 48 hours.
The expansion of Nigeria’s Lassa fever diagnostic network has improved geographic accessibility, accelerated diagnostic turnaround, and reduced pressure on the initial three laboratories. This structured, evidence-based approach provides a replicable model for scaling diagnostic capacity in response to changing epidemiological trends.
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