A fatal case of Lassa hemorrhagic fever was officially reported in Guinea by the health authorities on May 17, 2021. In view of the situation and in the application of theInternational Health Regulation (IHR), the Ministry of Health declared an epidemic of Lassa fever in the prefecture of Yomou, Nzérékoré region.
An investigation is underway in the villages concerned, and to date, 30 contacts have been identified and followed up. The sample taken from the deceased index case is positive for Lassa fever after double confirmation by the Nzérékoré Laboratories and that of hemorrhagic fevers in Conakry.
Rare cases of Lassa fever have already occurred in Guinea. West Africa, including Guinea, is endemic to the Lassa virus.
Although it can be said that a single case is not synonymous with an epidemic, the presence of the virus cannot be disputed and requires caution.
Reminders on the Lassa fever :
The Lassa fever is a hemorrhagic fever caused by a Arenaviridae the virus Lassa. It is endemic in several West African countries, Nigeria, Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, where epidemic outbreaks occur regularly and affect 100 to 300,000 people per year, including 5 to 6,000. succumb.
The main reservoir of Lassa virus is a small peri-domestic rodent called Mastomys natalensis. The virus is transmitted to humans through contact with animal feces (urine, faeces). Many of these rodents live near or even inside homes, and their infection rate can be up to 80%. Contacts between humans and the infected reservoir are therefore very frequent in the villages. The virus can also be transmitted from person to person, mainly in a hospital setting, by skin-to-mucous membrane contact with a patient’s body fluids.
The clinical picture of Lassa fever is variable, from asymptomatic infection, which is very common (80% of cases), to severe haemorrhagic fever. The disease begins 6 to 21 days after infection with not very specific clinical signs: fever, vomiting, nausea, abdominal pain, headache, myalgia, arthralgia, asthenia. In severe cases, the symptoms then worsen, with the appearance of edema, hemorrhagic signs, pericardial and pleural effusions, and more rarely encephalitis. The patient died against a background of hypotensive and hypovolemic shock and renal and hepatic failure.
Lassa fever is extremely serious for pregnant women, frequently leading to the death of the mother and systematically to that of the fetus.
Source : ProMED.
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