Lassa fever The disease is endemic in parts of West Africa but rarely seen in Europe or the United States.
U.S. health authorities are investigating the death of an Iowa resident from suspected Lassa fever, a dangerous viral illness endemic in parts of West Africa but rarely seen in the United States or Europe.
The patient returned to the United States from West Africa earlier this month, but was not ill during the trip. The risk to other airline passengers is therefore “extremely low,” officials at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said.
The patient, who died on Monday, had been hospitalized in isolation and tests showed that he was presumed positive for Lassa fever.
If the results are confirmed, this would be the ninth known case of Lassa fever since 1969 in travelers returning to the United States from areas where the disease is present.
It is also rare in Europe. There have been eight cases of Lassa fever in the past decade, almost all imported from abroad. The most recent took place in France in May.
Patients are not believed to be contagious until they show symptoms, and the U.S. CDC is helping Iowa health officials identify people who had contact with the patient after that time.
Symptoms and spread of Lassa fever
Symptoms are usually mild and include fever, fatigue and headache. Some people may develop vomiting, difficulty breathing, facial swelling, and pain in the back, chest, or stomach.
Individuals identified as close contacts of the Lassa fever Iowa patient will be monitored for 21 days.
State and local health officials are working to understand how the patient, whom they have not identified, became infected. Initial information suggests that the patient had contact with rodents in West Africa.
The virus is carried by rodents and is transmitted to humans through contact with the urine or feces of infected animals. In rare cases, it can be transmitted between people through direct contact with a sick person’s blood or bodily fluids, through mucous membranes, or through sexual contact.
Approximately 100,000 to 300,000 cases of Lassa fever and approximately 5,000 deaths occur each year in West Africa.
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