Risky Hostels: Rodent Infestation Raises Lassa Fever Concerns on Nigerian Campuses

In a dimly lit room inside a female hostel at the University of Ibadan, a final-year student prepares a simple meal. She pours garri into a bowl, adds water, and sits down to eat exhausted from juggling her project defense, tests, and daily academic demands.

What she does not see is what had happened hours earlier: a rat had scurried across the cupboard where the garri was stored.

Moments like this play out quietly across university hostels, turning everyday routines into invisible health risks.

As Nigeria battles a resurgence of Lassa fever, attention is increasingly shifting to an overlooked frontline, the country’s public university hostels.

According to the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control, 99 deaths had been recorded as of Week 8 in 2026, with infections spreading across multiple states. Health authorities continue to warn of a nationwide spike.

But beyond official data, conditions inside student hostels at the University of Ibadan and Obafemi Awolowo University reveal how environmental neglect may be enabling the spread of the disease.

Where Learning Meets Exposure

Lassa fever, first identified in 1969 in Lassa, Borno State, is caused by a virus carried primarily by the multimammate rat (Mastomys natalensis), a species that thrives in human environments, particularly where sanitation is poor.

Transmission occurs through contaminated food, inhalation of infected particles, or direct contact with bodily fluids. With no widely available vaccine, prevention depends largely on keeping rodents out of living spaces.

In many university hostels, that line has all but disappeared.

At Queen Elizabeth II and Ransome Kuti Halls in Ibadan, students say waste management gaps are driving the problem. Refuse collection halts over the weekend, leaving bins to overflow for up to 48 hours.

For nursing student Osuolale Oluwatomilayo, this has become routine.

“From Saturday to Monday morning, it’s like a feeding period for rats,” she said. “They gather, eat, and then settle around our living spaces.”

At Obafemi Awolowo University, the issue takes a different but equally troubling form. Students point to deteriorating infrastructure, broken doors, open pipes, and cracks in walls, that allow rodents easy access into rooms.

For final-year Microbiology student Fifunmi Peace, the signs are hard to ignore.

“You see them at night. You hear them. You just learn to live around it,” she said.

With limited alternatives, students resort to improvised safety measures, sealing food in plastic containers, blocking door gaps with clothing, and avoiding certain areas at night.

Temporary Fixes, Persistent Threats

Across both institutions, fumigation is often presented as a solution. But students say its impact is short-lived.

“After they spray, within days, the rats are back,” one student said.

Public health specialist Irene Udebuana explains why.

Without addressing structural entry points and sanitation failures, she notes, chemical treatments offer only temporary relief.

“The environment itself is sustaining the infestation,” she said.

The result is a cycle where interventions fail to address root causes, allowing rodent populations to persist and, in some cases, expand.

Management Responds

When contacted, a hall warden at Obafemi Awolowo University, Mrs Akanni, said authorities were not aware of any rodent infestation in the halls and had not received complaints from students regarding such issues.

She noted that the hostel maintains a complaint register for reporting electrical faults and other concerns, which management relies on for interventions.

Mrs Akanno, however, acknowledged that there had been reports of bedbugs in the past, adding that the issue had since been addressed.

The Awareness Gap

Beyond infrastructure, experts warn of another critical weakness, limited awareness.

At the University of Ibadan, hostel walls display general hygiene messages, but targeted information on Lassa fever remains scarce. At Obafemi Awolowo University, students report a similar lack of focused sensitisation.

This gap has consequences.

Early symptoms of Lassa fever include fever, sore throat, and muscle aches and are easily mistaken for malaria, delaying diagnosis and treatment.

Dr Udebuana warns that by the time severe symptoms such as unexplained bleeding or hearing loss appear, treatment options may be limited.

For survivors, the effects can be long-term, including permanent hearing loss and chronic health complications.

A Preventable Crisis

With Nigeria’s case fatality rate currently estimated at 24.5 percent, experts say urgent action is needed.

She emphasized on three priorities which include, structural repairs to eliminate rodent entry points, consistent and effective waste management as well as early detection through targeted awareness and health education

Yet, on many campuses, these measures remain inconsistent or insufficient.

Living with the Risk

What emerges from these accounts is a troubling reality. Students are adapting to conditions that should not exist.

They study, cook, and sleep in environments where exposure to disease is not accidental, but embedded in the system itself.

Until these structural and environmental failures are addressed, the threat of Lassa fever in university hostels will persist, not as a distant outbreak, but as a daily, invisible presence.