Lassa fever, known as Lassa hemorrhagic fever, is a type of viral hemorrhagic fever caused by the Lassa virus.
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11 Facts About Lassa fever
2.
The Lassa fever virus is a member of the Arenaviridae family of viruses.
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3.
Lassa fever is relatively common in West Africa including the countries of Nigeria, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Guinea, and Ghana.
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4.
Lassa fever can be difficult to distinguish clinically from other viral hemorrhagic fevers, such as Ebola virus disease.
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5.
Lassa fever virus is a member of the Arenaviridae, a family of negative-sense, single-stranded RNA viruses.
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6.
In cases with abdominal pain, in countries where Lassa is common, Lassa fever is often misdiagnosed as appendicitis and intussusception which delays treatment with the antiviral ribavirin.
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7.
In West Africa, where Lassa fever is most common, it is difficult to diagnose due to the absence of proper equipment to perform testing.
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8.
An outbreak of Lassa fever occurred in Nigeria during 2018 and spread to 18 of the country's states; it was the largest outbreak of Lassa recorded.
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9.
On 25 February 2018, there were 1081 suspected cases and 90 reported deaths; 317 of the cases and 72 deaths were confirmed as Lassa fever which increased to a total of 431 reported cases in 2018.
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10.
Epidemic took a new form, from 3 to 30 January 2022,211 laboratory confirmed Lassa fever cases including 40 deaths have been cumulatively reported in 14 of the 36 Nigerian states and the Federal Capital Territory across the country.
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11.
Lassa fever virus is one of several viruses identified by WHO as a likely cause of a future epidemic.
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