NIMR Raises Awareness about Underlying Viral Diseases, Warns Against Potential Outbreak

• Nigerian Institute of Medical Research (NIMR) discussed findings on recent virology researches

• States the Institution’s milestone achievements in combating viral infectious diseases in Nigeria

• Warns public about potential threats of infectious disease outbreaks

The Nigerian Institute of Media Research (NIMR) revealed their recent findings on emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases across Nigeria, including Zika virus, Chikungunya virus, Dengue Virus among others.

NIMR held her second edition of a monthly media chat series as the Director General of the Institute, Prof. John Obafunwa, hosted several media practitioners on Tuesday, February 25, 2025, to reveal their research findings on emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases across Nigeria.

Professor Rosemary Audu, the Director of Research and Deputy Director of NIMR, as well as a Professor of Medical Research at Lead City University, led the research finding summary session.

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Prof. Rosemary revealed that the research was crucial to understanding how viral diseases spread, their effects on the general wellbeing of the public, and how to prevent the outbreak of deadly infectious diseases.

She made references to past research, findings, and achievements backed with statistics and figures, revealing that during the 2018 Lassa fever outbreak, 80% of the endemnicity of Lassa fever returned negative in Ondo State.

Crimean-Congo virus hemorrhagic fever virus in febrile patients and herdsmen in Kwara State from 2018 to 2024.

Also, Yellow Fever, Zika, and Chikungunya Virus in febrile patients in Delta State from 2021 to 2022.

Dengue virus in febrile patients in Oyo and Delta states, as well as the detection of abundance of Aedes aegypti mosquitoes in Delta and Oyo States, respectively.

Furthermore, Prof. Rosemary discussed the recent COVID-19 pandemic, recounting NIMR’s intervention in sequencing the first case of SARS-CoV-2 in Nigeria.

She also stated that NIMR discovered and reported the saproprevalence of COVID-19 variant in several states across Nigeria, including its prevalence among frontline health workers.

In addition, Prof. Rosemary discussed Mpox outbreak, stating that the institute’s combative efforts led to the discovery of Mpox in stored samples, high-risk individuals, and suspected cases.

Further discoveries about Mpox by NIMR include Mpox environmental samples like bedding, pillows, chairs, and other household items.

Prof. Rosemary revealed that NIMR’s findings and discoveries led to groundbreaking detection kit development such as HBV qPCR Kit 1.0, MPOX RT-qPCR, YFV RT-qPCR, LASV RT-qPCR, and the SARS-CoV-2 detection assay between 2020 and 2023.

Following the references to the research backgrounds, Prof. Rosemary then revealed the impacts and implications of the recent studies conducted by the institution.

She revealed that the detection of Dengue virus, Zika virus, Yellow fever, and lassa fever virus in the aforementioned communities indicates active spread of infections.

Also, she noted that there is an abundance of Aedes Aegpti mosquitoes, which will increase arboviral transmission rate if there is an outbreak.

She added that efforts are needed in rodent and mosquito control, as well as increased awareness campaigns to enlighten the public.

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Prof. Rosemary provided insights on the challenges and solutions to emerging and re-emerging viruses, stating that in place of limited funding, exploration of grant opportunities would aid further interventions.

Also, tackling the problem of irregular sampling and surveillance, more PhD scholars should be deployed for extensive fieldwork.

In conclusion, Prof. Rosemary warned about the prevalence of emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases in Nigeria, particularly the Viral Hemorrhagic Fevers (VHF), while advising that proper screening be done for early detection and prevention.

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