Iowa reports Lassa fever death in traveler to West Africa
Iowa state health officials confirmed yesterday the death of a middle-aged eastern Iowa resident from Lassa fever. The individual had recently returned from travel to West Africa, where it is believed they contracted the virus.
Initial testing was done at the Nebraska Public Health Laboratory on Monday. The centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is working to confirm the diagnosis of Lassa fever.
The Iowa Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is working closely with the University of Iowa Health Care, where the individual was receiving care, the CDC and local public health partners to identify anyone who may have been in close contact with the patient, out of an abundance of caution, for monitoring.
State Medical Director of the Iowa HHS said, “I want to assure Iowans that the risk of transmission is incredibly low in our state. We continue to investigate and monitor this situation and are implementing the necessary public health protocols.”
Lassa Fever is an acute viral illness and a viral hemorrhagic fever (VHF). The causative agent is a single-stranded ribonucleic acid (RNA) virus in the family arenaviridae, the Lassa virus. This zoonotic disease is associated with high morbidity and mortality, transmitted by the multi-mammate rat (Mastomys natalensis), one of the most common rats in equatorial Africa.
Lassa fever is not spread through casual human contact like hugging, shaking hands or sitting near someone or through the air. Though very rare, the virus can be transmitted from human to human contact through blood or bodily fluids.
Lassa fever is found in parts of West Africa, including Sierra Leone, Liberia, Guinea and Nigeria. People who live in neighboring countries are also at risk because the rat that spreads Lassa fever lives throughout the region.
The first documented case occurred in 1969. Lassa fever is named after the town in Nigeria where the first cases occurred.
There have been eight travel-associated cases of Lassa fever in the U.S. in the past 55 years.