Lassa Fever :Signs And Symptoms

Lassa fever, an acute viral infection found in the tropics, especially in West Africa, is caused by a single-stranded RNA virus that is animal borne (zoonotic).

Lassa fever which can cause a potentially fatal illness, is highly contagious, and can rapidly spread.

The reservoir, or host, of the Lassa virus is a rodent known as the ‘multimammate rat.’ People can become infected by eating this infected rat or by eating food contaminated by the rat’s excretions.

Person-to-person transmission also occurs via direct contact, contamination of skin breaks with infected blood, and aerosol spreads (virus particles moving through the air).

The first symptoms typically occur 1 to 3 weeks after the patient comes into contact with the virus and may include high fever, sore throat, cough, eye inflammation (conjunctivitis), facial swelling, pain behind the breastbone, back pain, abdominal pain, vomiting, diarrhea, and general weakness that lasts for several days.

The antiviral drug ribavirin is used for treatment along with supportive care.

Signs and symptoms of Lassa fever typically occur 1-3 weeks after the patient comes into contact with the virus.

For the majority of Lassa fever virus infections (approximately 80%), symptoms are mild and are un-diagnosed.

In 20% of infected individuals, however, disease may progress to more serious symptoms including hemorrhaging (in gums, eyes, or nose, as examples), respiratory distress, repeated vomiting, facial swelling, pain in the chest, back, and abdomen, and shock. Neurological problems have also been described, including hearing loss, tremors, and encephalitis. Death may occur within two weeks after symptom onset due to multi-organ failure.

The most common complication of Lassa fever is deafness. Various degrees of deafness occur in approximately one-third of infections, and in many cases hearing loss is permanent.

As far as is known, severity of the disease does not affect this complication: deafness may develop in mild as well as in severe cases.

Approximately 15%-20% of patients hospitalized for Lassa fever die from the illness. However, only 1% of all Lassa virus infections result in death.

The death rates for women in the third trimester of pregnancy are particularly high. Spontaneous abortion is a serious complication of infection with an estimated 95% mortality in fetuses of infected pregnant mothers.

Because the symptoms of Lassa fever are so varied and nonspecific, clinical diagnosis is often difficult. Lassa fever is also associated with occasional epidemics, during which the case-fatality rate can reach 50% in hospitalized patients.

• Gastrointestinal tract

  Nausea

  Vomiting (bloody)

  Diarrhea (bloody)

  Stomach ache

  Constipation

  Dysphagia (difficulty swallowing)

  Hepatitis

• Cardiovascular system

  Pericarditis

  Hypertension

  Hypotension

  Tachycardia (abnormally high heart rate)

• Respiratory tract

  Cough

  Chest pain

  Dyspnoea

  Pharyngitis

  Pleuritis

  Nervous system

  Encephalitis

  Meningitis

  Unilateral or bilateral hearing deficit

  Seizures

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