An eastern Iowa resident died Monday from an Ebola-like viral illness he likely contracted during a trip to West Africa.
This is the ninth case of Lassa fever in the U.S. in more than half a century, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Lassa fever is often transmitted through the feces of an infected rodent from West Africa. The middle-aged Iowa resident had returned from a trip to that region in early October, the Iowa Department of Public Health said in a news release.
The CDC is conducting final laboratory testing after the person received a presumptive positive result Monday. The person died Monday afternoon at the University of Iowa Health Care Medical Center, where he was housed in isolation from other patients. Lassa fever has symptoms similar to the Ebola virus and causes hemorrhagic fever. However, experts say the chances of it being fatal are much lower than Ebola.
State and federal authorities have said the risk of transmission is low.
"We continue to investigate and monitor the situation and implement necessary public health protocols," Dr. Robert Kruse, the medical director of the Iowa Department of Public Health, said in a statement.
Lassa fever is typically transmitted through the urine or feces of infected rodents. The West African multimammary rat is the only known vector of the virus. These rats are found in sub-Saharan Africa, and Lassa fever has been found in Sierra Leone, Liberia, Guinea and Nigeria, according to the CDC. People can transmit the virus through blood or bodily fluids if they have active symptoms.
In a news release, the CDC said preliminary information suggests the patient may have had contact with rodents during a visit to West Africa. Officials, who declined to provide further details about the person, are working to identify others who had contact with the person at the time symptoms appeared.
People who have been in close contact with the infected person will be monitored for three weeks, according to the CDC. The incubation period for the virus is between two and 21 days.
Before this case, eight other people in the U.S. were diagnosed with Lassa fever after returning from the region where Lassa fever occurred, according to the CDC. In West Africa, about 5,000 people die from the virus each year, including about 100,000 to 300,000 cases per year, according to the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Most people have mild or no symptoms of illness, and deaths are rare, experts say.
What are the symptoms of Lassa fever?
The signs and symptoms of Lassa fever are typically insidious, according to African health authorities. It is considered far less deadly than Ebola or the Marburg virus, another hemorrhagic fever with a high mortality rate. The infection is treated with the antiviral drug ribavirin.
Symptoms include fever, weakness and malaise, followed by headache, throat, muscle or chest pain, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, cough and abdominal pain, according to the African agency that oversees disease control. Severe cases sometimes include facial swelling, fluid in the lungs, bleeding from the mouth, nose, genitals or gastrointestinal tract and low blood pressure.
Deafness occurs in 25% of patients who survive the disease, but in most of them, hearing returns in the following months. Death usually occurs within two weeks of the onset of the disease, according to the African Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The first documented cases of Lassa fever in the United States occurred in 1969. The viral disease takes its name from the Nigerian city where two missionary sisters died of the disease, according to the British health authority.
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