{"id":237,"date":"2022-05-27T18:19:39","date_gmt":"2022-05-27T18:19:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mayhospitalshendam.com\/?p=237"},"modified":"2022-05-27T19:39:49","modified_gmt":"2022-05-27T19:39:49","slug":"lassa-fever","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mayhospitalshendam.com\/?p=237","title":{"rendered":"LASSA FEVER"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>By Dr A. I. Madaki<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Lassa fever is viral illness that occurs in West Africa.<\/li>\n<li>The reservoir of the Lassa virus is a rodent of the genus <i>Mastomys<\/i> known as \u201cmultimammate rat\u201d.<\/li>\n<li>The Lassa virus is transmitted to humans mainly through food or household items contaminated by infected rats\u2019 urine and faeces and by handling infected rats.<\/li>\n<li>80% of people infected will have no or mild symptoms. One on five people will develop a severe disease.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>BURDEN OF DISEASE IN WEST AFRICA<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>58 million population at risk<\/li>\n<li>5,000 estimated number of deaths in West Africa each year<\/li>\n<li>100,000 to 300,000 estimated number of Lassa fever cases in West Africa each year<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>CLINICAL FEATURES<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\n<ul>\n<li>The incubation period ranges from 5-21 days.<\/li>\n<li>With 80% asymptomatic and mild symptoms presentation, overall case fatality rate (CFR) is 1%.<\/li>\n<li>CFR can reach 15% or more among patients hospitalized with severe presentation.<\/li>\n<li>Most common symptoms include:<\/li>\n<li>Gradual onset of fever, malaise and general weakness;<\/li>\n<li>After a few days: headache, sore throat, muscle pain, chest pain, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, cough, and abdominal pain.<\/li>\n<li>In severe cases, patient may present with bleeding, neck\/facial swelling and shock.<\/li>\n<li>Sequelae: various degree of deafness have been shown to occur in 25% of survivors.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>*Hearing return after 1-3 months in only 50% of these patients.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">PREGNANCY<\/span><\/li>\n<li>Particularly severe in pregnant women and their fetuses (fetal death rate greater than 85%)<\/li>\n<li>Increased maternal mortality in third trimester (greater than 30%)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>CHILDHOOD<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Significant cause of pediatric hospitalizations in some areas of West Africa<\/li>\n<li>Infants (up to 2 years old) can present a \u2018swollen baby syndrome\u2019 and is associated with high case fatality rate<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>DIAGNOSIS<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Symptoms are non-specific; clinical diagnosis may be difficult.<\/li>\n<li>Differential diagnosis includes other viral haemorrhagic fevers, yellow fever, malaria, typhoid fever, shigellosis, and other viral and bacterial diseases.<\/li>\n<li>Patient history is essential and should include: exposure to rodents and\/or area\/village endemic for Lassa and\/or contact with Lassa cases<\/li>\n<li>*<u>Definitive diagnosis requires testing:<\/u>\n<ul>\n<li>reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) assay<\/li>\n<li>IgG and IgM antibodies enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA)<\/li>\n<li>antigen detection tests<\/li>\n<li>virus isolation by cell culture<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>*Handling and processing specimen requires suitably equipped laboratories under maximum biological containment conditions and staff collecting samples should be trained.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>TREATMENT<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Intensive supportive care including: monitor fluid and electrolyte balance and renal function, careful rehydration<\/li>\n<li>Supportive drug therapy including : painkillers, antiemetic for vomiting, anxiolytic for agitation, +\/-antibiotics and\/or antimalarial drugs<\/li>\n<li>Antiviral drug ribavirin can be given early in course of the disease<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>PREVENTION<\/p>\n<p>Prevention relies on promoting good community hygiene to discourage rodents from entering homes.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><b>Removing<\/b> <b>source<\/b> <b>of<\/b> <b>attraction<\/b> <b>for<\/b> <b>rats<\/b>: Storing grain and other foodstuffs in rodent-proof containers, disposing of garbage far from the home, and maintaining clean households and washing dish after eating.<\/li>\n<li><b>Preventing<\/b> <b>rats<\/b> <b>from<\/b> <b>entering<\/b> <b>house<\/b>: block holes around the house, improving building materials and structures (ceiling, walls) and keeping cats and dogs.<\/li>\n<li><b>Avoid<\/b> <b>contact<\/b> <b>with<\/b> <b>infected<\/b> <b>rats<\/b> and consumption of their raw meat. Rats should be handled with gloves and other appropriate protective clothing.<\/li>\n<li><b>All<\/b> <b>animal<\/b> <b>products<\/b> <b>should<\/b> <b>be<\/b> <b>thoroughly<\/b> <b>cooked.<\/b><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>REDUCING HUMAN TO HUMAN TRANSMISSION<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Avoid contact with infected Lassa patients and deaths.<\/li>\n<li>Regular hand washing with soap and water.<\/li>\n<li>Encourage early treatment in Lassa Treatment Center.<\/li>\n<li>Hand-washing, using gloves and mask when caring for suspect Lassa patient at home and seek for health advice.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>REFERENCES<\/p>\n<p><u><a href=\"http:\/\/www.who.int\/csr\/disease\/lassafever\/\">http:\/\/www.who.int\/csr\/disease\/lassafever\/<\/a><\/u><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Technical information<\/li>\n<li>Fact Sheet<\/li>\n<li>Disease outbreak news<\/li>\n<li>Infographics<\/li>\n<li>Related links<\/li>\n<li>WHO website<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Dr A. I. Madaki Lassa fever is viral illness that occurs in West Africa. The&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":238,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[38],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-237","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-journal"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>LASSA FEVER - May Hospital, Shendam<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/mayhospitalshendam.com\/?p=237\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"LASSA FEVER - May Hospital, Shendam\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Dr A. I. Madaki Lassa fever is viral illness that occurs in West Africa. The...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/mayhospitalshendam.com\/?p=237\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"May Hospital, Shendam\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-05-27T18:19:39+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-05-27T19:39:49+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/mayhospitalshendam.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/Picture2.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"494\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"387\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Robert Ati\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Robert Ati\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/mayhospitalshendam.com\/?p=237\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/mayhospitalshendam.com\/?p=237\",\"name\":\"LASSA FEVER - May Hospital, Shendam\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/mayhospitalshendam.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/mayhospitalshendam.com\/?p=237#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/mayhospitalshendam.com\/?p=237#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mayhospitalshendam.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/Picture2.png?fit=494%2C387&ssl=1\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-05-27T18:19:39+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-05-27T19:39:49+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/mayhospitalshendam.com\/#\/schema\/person\/b6e5fa5632d6abeb3f214ed2ff20db29\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/mayhospitalshendam.com\/?p=237#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/mayhospitalshendam.com\/?p=237\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/mayhospitalshendam.com\/?p=237#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mayhospitalshendam.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/Picture2.png?fit=494%2C387&ssl=1\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mayhospitalshendam.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/Picture2.png?fit=494%2C387&ssl=1\",\"width\":494,\"height\":387},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/mayhospitalshendam.com\/?p=237#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/mayhospitalshendam.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"LASSA FEVER\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/mayhospitalshendam.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/mayhospitalshendam.com\/\",\"name\":\"May Hospital, Shendam\",\"description\":\"Best Shendam Care there is..\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/mayhospitalshendam.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/mayhospitalshendam.com\/#\/schema\/person\/b6e5fa5632d6abeb3f214ed2ff20db29\",\"name\":\"Robert Ati\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/mayhospitalshendam.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8a2915b97a9bb7f344ce4987adb773d3?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8a2915b97a9bb7f344ce4987adb773d3?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Robert Ati\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/mayhospitalshendam.com\/?author=2\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"LASSA FEVER - May Hospital, Shendam","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/mayhospitalshendam.com\/?p=237","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"LASSA FEVER - May Hospital, Shendam","og_description":"By Dr A. I. Madaki Lassa fever is viral illness that occurs in West Africa. The...","og_url":"https:\/\/mayhospitalshendam.com\/?p=237","og_site_name":"May Hospital, Shendam","article_published_time":"2022-05-27T18:19:39+00:00","article_modified_time":"2022-05-27T19:39:49+00:00","og_image":[{"width":494,"height":387,"url":"https:\/\/mayhospitalshendam.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/Picture2.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"Robert Ati","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Robert Ati","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/mayhospitalshendam.com\/?p=237","url":"https:\/\/mayhospitalshendam.com\/?p=237","name":"LASSA FEVER - May Hospital, Shendam","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/mayhospitalshendam.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/mayhospitalshendam.com\/?p=237#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/mayhospitalshendam.com\/?p=237#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mayhospitalshendam.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/Picture2.png?fit=494%2C387&ssl=1","datePublished":"2022-05-27T18:19:39+00:00","dateModified":"2022-05-27T19:39:49+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/mayhospitalshendam.com\/#\/schema\/person\/b6e5fa5632d6abeb3f214ed2ff20db29"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/mayhospitalshendam.com\/?p=237#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/mayhospitalshendam.com\/?p=237"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/mayhospitalshendam.com\/?p=237#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mayhospitalshendam.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/Picture2.png?fit=494%2C387&ssl=1","contentUrl":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mayhospitalshendam.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/Picture2.png?fit=494%2C387&ssl=1","width":494,"height":387},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/mayhospitalshendam.com\/?p=237#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/mayhospitalshendam.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"LASSA FEVER"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/mayhospitalshendam.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/mayhospitalshendam.com\/","name":"May Hospital, Shendam","description":"Best Shendam Care there is..","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/mayhospitalshendam.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/mayhospitalshendam.com\/#\/schema\/person\/b6e5fa5632d6abeb3f214ed2ff20db29","name":"Robert Ati","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/mayhospitalshendam.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8a2915b97a9bb7f344ce4987adb773d3?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8a2915b97a9bb7f344ce4987adb773d3?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Robert Ati"},"url":"https:\/\/mayhospitalshendam.com\/?author=2"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mayhospitalshendam.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/Picture2.png?fit=494%2C387&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mayhospitalshendam.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/237"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mayhospitalshendam.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mayhospitalshendam.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mayhospitalshendam.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mayhospitalshendam.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=237"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/mayhospitalshendam.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/237\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":240,"href":"https:\/\/mayhospitalshendam.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/237\/revisions\/240"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mayhospitalshendam.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/238"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mayhospitalshendam.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=237"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mayhospitalshendam.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=237"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mayhospitalshendam.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=237"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}