Pathfinder
Editor, Senior Moderator
Unusual cough, fever stir panic in Lagos
18th October 2025
By Ibrahim Adam
...
Saturday PUNCH gathered that lately, waiting areas in some general hospitals, primary health centres, and private hospitals in Lagos have become crowded with mothers carrying coughing children, young men sniffled behind face masks, and elderly patients clutched handkerchiefs as they waited to be attended to.
A nurse at one of the primary health centres in Oshodi, who spoke on condition of anonymity as she was not permitted to speak to the media, said, “For the past two weeks, we have had a steady stream of patients with persistent coughs and fevers. It feels just like 2020 all over again when COVID-19 broke out.
“The symptoms now seem worse, given the number we are seeing. What we used to see as the common cold years ago is nothing like this. Look at the people outside, they are all here to see a doctor. Honestly, I really do not know what is happening.”
...
A consultant family physician at LASUTH, Dr Oluwajimi Sodipo, confirmed an upsurge in upper respiratory infections among Lagos residents.
“We have seen an increase in the number of people presenting with upper respiratory infections such as runny noses, headaches, and fever. Sometimes, the fever is low-grade; other times, it is very high,” he said.
Sodipo explained that many patients have been presenting with identical symptoms across different healthcare facilities.
....
“The symptoms are almost identical to COVID-19. We have respiratory tract infections, many of them viral in origin, including COVID-19, influenza, and respiratory syncytial virus,” he explained to Saturday PUNCH.
...
“What we are seeing could be the interplay of several viral infections. People must not self-medicate but instead present themselves to hospitals for proper testing. It is better to know what you are treating than to assume it is malaria or typhoid.
...
An Infectious Disease Physician at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital, Dr Iorhen Akase, raised concern over the rise in cases of cough and flu in Lagos, which he linked to poor disease surveillance and inadequate investment in testing facilities.
...
He said, “There’s a high likelihood that different kinds of viruses are circulating now. This pattern of cough and cold is in keeping with viral infections. The question is which virus is causing it?
The answer is what we don’t know.
...
“It could be COVID, it could be another viral infection, we don’t know. Unfortunately, some of these cases could be fatal while being misdiagnosed as malaria or typhoid,” he said.
...
https://punchng.com/unusual-cough-fever-stir-panic-in-lagos/#google_vignette
18th October 2025
By Ibrahim Adam
...
Saturday PUNCH gathered that lately, waiting areas in some general hospitals, primary health centres, and private hospitals in Lagos have become crowded with mothers carrying coughing children, young men sniffled behind face masks, and elderly patients clutched handkerchiefs as they waited to be attended to.
A nurse at one of the primary health centres in Oshodi, who spoke on condition of anonymity as she was not permitted to speak to the media, said, “For the past two weeks, we have had a steady stream of patients with persistent coughs and fevers. It feels just like 2020 all over again when COVID-19 broke out.
“The symptoms now seem worse, given the number we are seeing. What we used to see as the common cold years ago is nothing like this. Look at the people outside, they are all here to see a doctor. Honestly, I really do not know what is happening.”
...
A consultant family physician at LASUTH, Dr Oluwajimi Sodipo, confirmed an upsurge in upper respiratory infections among Lagos residents.
“We have seen an increase in the number of people presenting with upper respiratory infections such as runny noses, headaches, and fever. Sometimes, the fever is low-grade; other times, it is very high,” he said.
Sodipo explained that many patients have been presenting with identical symptoms across different healthcare facilities.
....
“The symptoms are almost identical to COVID-19. We have respiratory tract infections, many of them viral in origin, including COVID-19, influenza, and respiratory syncytial virus,” he explained to Saturday PUNCH.
...
“What we are seeing could be the interplay of several viral infections. People must not self-medicate but instead present themselves to hospitals for proper testing. It is better to know what you are treating than to assume it is malaria or typhoid.
...
An Infectious Disease Physician at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital, Dr Iorhen Akase, raised concern over the rise in cases of cough and flu in Lagos, which he linked to poor disease surveillance and inadequate investment in testing facilities.
...
He said, “There’s a high likelihood that different kinds of viruses are circulating now. This pattern of cough and cold is in keeping with viral infections. The question is which virus is causing it?
The answer is what we don’t know.
...
“It could be COVID, it could be another viral infection, we don’t know. Unfortunately, some of these cases could be fatal while being misdiagnosed as malaria or typhoid,” he said.
...
https://punchng.com/unusual-cough-fever-stir-panic-in-lagos/#google_vignette