Three cases of Lassa fever have been detected in the United Kingdom among people who recently returned from West Africa. One of the three persons diagnosed with Lassa fever has died on February 11.
What is Lassa Fever?
- Scientists first identified the virus causing Lassa fever in 1969. It belongs to the Arenaviridae family.
- Lassa fever is endemic in Nigeria and several other countries on the west coast of Africa, including Liberia and Guinea.
- People usually become infected after exposure to food or household items that are contaminated with urine or faeces of infected rats.
- According to the World Health Organization, 80 per cent of people who get infected won’t develop any symptoms.
- But the virus, which can make women bleed from their vagina and trigger seizures, can also be transmitted via bodily fluids.
- Symptoms begin with headaches, sore throats and vomiting, but it can trigger bleeding from the mouth, nose or vagina.
- The virus has a case-fatality rate of around 1 per cent.
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