close
close

An Iowa resident dies from Lassa fever, similar to Ebola, according to the CDC

Posted on by Vanessa
An Iowa resident dies from Lassa fever, similar to Ebola, according to the CDC

The person had recently returned from a trip to West Africa. Lassa fever is a viral disease similar to the Ebola virus.

An eastern Iowa resident died Monday of an Ebola-like viral illness he likely contracted during a recent trip to West Africa.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the person is believed to be the ninth case of Lassa fever in the United States in more than half a century. Lassa fever is often transmitted through the excretions of an infected rodent found in West Africa. The middle-aged Iowa resident returned from a trip to the region in early October, Iowa public health officials said in a news release.

The CDC is conducting final laboratory testing after the person received a presumptive positive result on Monday. The person died Monday afternoon while being treated in isolation from other patients at the University of Iowa Health Care Medical Center hospital. Lassa fever has similar symptoms to the Ebola virus and causes hemorrhagic fever. But experts say the disease is far less likely to be fatal than Ebola.

State and federal officials said the risk of transmission is low.

“We continue to investigate and monitor this situation and implement the necessary public health protocols,” said Dr. Robert Kruse, state medical director of the Iowa Department of Health and Human Services, in a statement.

Lassa fever typically spreads through the urine or feces of infected rodents. The West African multimammary rat is the only known carrier of the virus. These rats are found in sub-Saharan Africa, and Lassa fever has been detected in Sierra Leone, Liberia, Guinea and Nigeria, the CDC said. People can spread it through blood or body fluids if they have active symptoms.

In a news release, CDC officials said preliminary information suggests the patient may have had contact with rodents during a visit to West Africa. Officials declined to provide further details about the individual and are currently working to identify others who may have been in contact with the individual at the time symptoms appeared.

People who are in close contact with the infected person will be monitored for three weeks, according to the CDC. The incubation period of the virus is between two and 21 days.

Prior to this case, eight other people in the United States were found to have Lassa fever after returning from the region where Lassa fever was detected, the CDC said. About 5,000 people die from the virus in West Africa each year, including about 100,000 to 300,000 cases annually, according to the African Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Most people have mild or no symptoms of the disease and deaths are rare, experts say.

What are the symptoms of Lassa fever?

According to African health authorities, the signs and symptoms of Lassa typically appear gradually. It is considered far less deadly than Ebola or Marburg virus, another hemorrhagic fever with a high death rate. Infections are treated with the antiviral drug ribavirin.

Symptoms include fever, weakness and malaise, followed by headache, sore throat, muscle or chest pain, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, cough and abdominal pain, according to the African agency responsible for disease control. People with severe cases sometimes experience facial swelling, fluid in the lungs, bleeding from the mouth, nose, genitals, or gastrointestinal tract, and low blood pressure.

Deafness occurs in 25% of patients who survive the disease, but for most of these patients hearing returns in the following months. Death usually occurs within two weeks of the onset of the disease, the African disease control agency said.

The first documented cases of Lassa fever in the United States occurred in 1969. The viral disease takes its name from the Nigerian city where two missionary nurses died from it, according to Britain's Health Security Agency.

Infections typically occur in the dry season between December and April and follow the multimammary rat reproductive cycle in the rainy season, according to the World Health Organization.

Related Posts

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *