A WOMAN has died of Lassa fever, an Ebola-like disease also known as ‘rat fever’, prompting urgent contact tracing.
The horrific virus can cause bleeding from the eyes, though 80 per cent of victims show no symptoms.
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The woman, from Iowa, US, was diagnosed with the virus after visiting Africa and travelling back by plane, health authorities said.
Lassa fever, which is in the same viral hemorrhagic fever category as Ebola, is rarely seen in the US.
The US has reported just eight known imported cases of the bug in the past 55 years, including this latest.
It’s endemic to West Africa, where it causes hundreds of thousands of infections — and 5,000 deaths — every year.
There is currently no vaccine to treat or prevent it.
The middle-aged woman returned to the US from West Africa early this month [October].
The patient was not sick while travelling so the risk to fellow plane passengers is “extremely low”, the US Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said in a release published on Monday.
“The patient was hospitalised in isolation at the University of Iowa Health Care Medical Center when they died earlier this afternoon,” they added.
Preliminary tests were positive for the virus, and the CDC is working to confirm the diagnosis.
Iowa public health officials are racing to find close contacts of the woman who may be carrying the bug.
Those identified will be monitored for 21 days to make sure they don’t develop symptoms.
Lassa fever is an illness caused by the Lassa virus, which is listed on the World Health Organisation’s list of notorious pathogens that have epidemic or pandemic potential.
The virus causes headaches, weakness, coughing, vomiting, diarrhoea, muscle pains and a sore throat.
In severe cases, the disease can affect many organs and can damage the body’s blood vessels.
This can lead to bleeding from the ears, eyes, nose, mouth and other body openings, as well as breathing problems, facial swelling, chest pain and shock.
Around one per cent of people who are infected die, although this rises to 15 per cent in people who are admitted to the hospital with severe symptoms, and up to 70 per cent in some areas.
It is spread through contact with the urine, faeces, saliva or blood of infected rats, and is particularly prevalent in poorer communities.
The virus can spread from human to human in rare circumstances, especially when healthcare workers come in contact with an infected person’s bodily fluids or via sex.
Lassa Fever: Signs, symptoms and how to stay safe
The incubation period of Lassa fever ranges from six to 21 days.
The onset of the disease, when it is symptomatic, is usually gradual, starting with fever, general weakness, and malaise.
After a few days, headache, sore throat, muscle pain, chest pain, nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea, cough, and abdominal pain may follow.
In severe cases, facial swelling, fluid in the lung cavity, bleeding from the eyes, mouth, nose, vagina or gastrointestinal tract and low blood pressure may develop.
How to stay safe
UK travellers planning to visit areas at risk of Lassa fever should consider their plans carefully, in consultation with a travel health specialist.
All travellers to Lassa fever endemic areas should:
- Avoid contact with anyone with symptoms
- Avoid contact with blood and body fluids and items that might have been contaminated with blood and body fluids, like clothes, bedding or medical equipment
- Avoid areas with a risk of contamination with rat urine or droppings
- Avoid eating, cooking or preparing any meat from an unknown source
- Always wash and peel fruit and vegetables carefully
- Store food in rodent-proof containers
- Follow good food, water and personal hygiene advice, including careful, regular hand washing with soap and water (or alcohol gel if soap and water is unavailable)
- Follow safer sex advice – always use a condom
- At funerals, mourners should avoid all contact with the deceased, their body fluids and their personal property
Check each Country Information page here for destination specific news and outbreaks.
Source: The WHO
