Lassa fever overview
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Lassa fever overview On the Web |
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Editor-In-Chief: C. Michael Gibson, M.S., M.D. [1]
Overview
Lassa fever is an acute viral hemorrhagic fever first described in 1969 in the town of Lassa, Nigeria, located in the Yedseram river valley.[1] Clinical cases of the disease had been known for over a decade earlier but not connected with this viral pathogen. The infection is endemic in West African countries, and causes 300-500,000 cases annually with ~5,000 deaths.[2] Outbreaks of the disease have been observed in Nigeria, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Guinea, and the, Central African Republic, but it is believed that human infections also exist in Democratic Republic of the Congo, Mali, and Senegal.
Lassa fever is also the most common hemorrhagic fever that is exported beyond its endemic area to countries like the United States, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, the Netherlands, Japan, and Israel.
References
- ↑ Frame JD, Baldwin JM, Gocke DJ, Troup JM (1970). "Lassa fever, a new virus disease of man from West Africa. I. Clinical description and pathological findings". Am. J. Trop. Med. Hyg. 19 (4): 670–6. PMID 4246571.
- ↑ Ogbu O, Ajuluchukwu E, Uneke CJ (2007). "Lassa fever in West African sub-region: an overview". Journal of vector borne diseases. 44 (1): 1–11. PMID 17378212.