By NewsDesk @infectiousdiseasenews
A Lassa fever case was reported on July 11 in the West African country of Guinea, according to the World Health Organization.
Image/CIA
The patients was a 28-year-old pregnant woman from the village of Kondian, in the rural district of Koundou Lengo Bengou.
According to officials, she fell ill on 07 June 2020 with chest pain and no history of travel or contact with foreigners a month before her illness.
She consulted at Koundou health centre on 10 July 2020, with fever, cough, myalgia, diarrhea, vomiting, sore throat, and chest pain.
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The malaria RDT performed was positive. She was treated for malaria and transferred to Guéckédou hospital the same day, where the suspicion of hemorrhagic fever was made. A diagnostic test for hemorrhagic fever performed at the Hemorrhagic Fever laboratory in Guéckédou was positive for Lassa fever. The patient died the next day. A dignified and secure burial was carried out by the Red Cross on 12 July 2020.
Lassa fever is spread primarily by rats. Rats that carry the Lassa fever virus live in homes and areas where food is stored. People usually become ill with Lassa fever after direct contact with rat droppings or urine and through touching objects or eating food contaminated with rat droppings or urine.
Lassa fever may also spread when a person comes into contact with an infected person’s blood, tissue, or body fluids, especially when that person is seriously ill.
