A resident of Iowa recently succumbed to Lassa fever, a viral hemorrhagic illness that resembles Ebola. It is only rarely spotted in the United States. The Iowa Department of Health and Human Services reported a fatal case on Monday. Preliminary tests showed that the virus was present with the CDC working to confirm the diagnosis.
The patient was a middle-aged man who had traveled to West Africa, where Lassa fever is endemic. Returning to the United States, they were treated in isolation at the University of Iowa Health Care Medical Center, where they died from the disease. According to Iowa’s Medical Director Dr. Robert Kruse, the risk of transmitting Lassa fever in the U.S. remains “incredibly low,” since it mainly spreads through contact with infected materials or bodily fluids rather than casual contact.
The CDC estimates that this infection kills approximately 100,000 to 300,000 individuals every year in West Africa but is very rare in the United States. Only eight cases have been reported in the United States and all of them were travel-related and documented since 1969. This is the ninth identified case. Lassa fever can be very mild, presenting with slight fever, general fatigue, and headache, but potentially very severe, with bleeding and respiratory problems, vomiting, and severe pain.
The virus primarily spreads within the multimammate rat in West Africa. Most people get infected with this virus after exposure to the rat’s urine or feces. Permanent loss of hearing has been associated with one-third of cases and a high rate of miscarriages among pregnant women.
All persons who came into contact with the patient since its emergence are also under scrutiny from the health sector. , as disclosed by the CDC, the patient was not at all symptomatic at the time of traveling hence low chances of contact with any other traveler. Isolation and administering antiviral drugs, such as Ribavirin, must take place immediately in a patient suffering from Lassa fever.
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Haider Shah