"Lassa doesn't discriminate between the rich and the poor".
Vendors using megaphones and hawking their wares on carts have become commonplace.
Nigeria's health minister Isaac Adewole said close to 212 suspected cases have been recorded of Lassa, which is endemic in rats in west Africa.
Outbreaks are not uncommon and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates there are between 100,000 to 300,000 infections in west Africa every year, with about 5,000 deaths.
In 2012, there were 1,723 cases and 112 deaths in Nigeria. Last year, 12 people died out of 375 infected, according to the Nigerian Centre for Disease Control.
The virus is spread through contact with food or household items contaminated with rats' urine or faeces.
Africa's most populous country was praised for its containment of Ebola in 2014, despite initial fears it could spread rapidly in densely populated urban areas after the first case in Lagos.
But while the government maintains it has the spread of Lassa under control, specialists have voiced concern about under-reporting and Nigeria's capacity to deal with the outbreak.
The first case dates back to last August in the northwestern state of Niger but was not detected until late last year.
Public awareness campaigns have since been mounted and surveillance ramped up of primary and secondary contacts of those with the disease.
Most State affected are doing all in there power to drive out this disease from their states, Lagos for example is doing everything possible to see to it that Lassa fever is a thing of the past in the state.
Killing rats may be one solution to the problem but effective waste disposal has long been a major problem in Nigeria’s big cities.
“Everywhere you turn you see heaps of refuse which provides a breeding ground for rat. “Rats breed fast and it is very difficult to beat rats’ breeding rate with rodenticide.”
Buy I believe together we can drive out this dreadful disease out of our nation by maintaining a clean surrounding. God bless Nigeria
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