Minnesota Patient Has Lassa Fever, Search On for Others Exposed

Lassa fever can cause hemorrhagic symptoms but is NOT related to Ebola - it's an RNA virus in a completely different family. Still, it's a reminder that we're just a plane ride away from exposure to new disease.

Minnesota patient has W. African virus, search on for others exposed

A traveler who flew back to the United States from West Africa was diagnosed with the rare and sometimes deadly Lassa fever, said health authorities who on today were trying to identify others on the plane who may have been exposed.

In the first Lassa case in the United States in four years, an unnamed patient was admitted to a Minnesota hospital on Monday suffering from fever and confusion, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in a statement.

Blood samples sent to CDC tested positive for Lassa fever on Thursday.

.......“This imported case is a reminder that we are all connected by international travel. A disease anywhere can appear anywhere else in the world within hours,” CDC Director Tom Frieden said in a statement.

While Lassa fever can cause hemorrhagic symptoms in infected individuals, it is not related to the Ebola virus, which recently resurged in West Africa, the CDC said.

That's a scary diagnosis, can't imagine hearing that you're not only confirmed to have, but might have exposed others to one of the hemorrhagic fevers...

At least they catch it fast so they can track it. That is promising to hear - medical personnel being vigilant and CDC taking it seriously when reported. It isn't anyone's fault - germs are invisible.

This is very interesting because i've read about Ebola but i've never heard of Lassa Fever before.
Be interesting to see what the RNA seqeuence of Lassa Fever looks like compared to Ebola.
Btw West Africa is definitely off my travel list.

Dianec
At least they catch it fast so they can track it. That is promising to hear - medical personnel being vigilant and CDC taking it seriously when reported. It isn't anyone's fault - germs are invisible.

Yeah, well, you know what they were really looking found I bet. Wouldn't surprise me if they found Lassa by default after determining that it wasn't Ebola.

They're almost certainly watching every person who comes in complaining of anything remotely like Ebola symptoms who has been to the right areas.

Not to diminish the scare, but at least according to the CDC is not an airborne disease easily picked up by others.

Casual contact (including skin-to-skin contact without exchange of body fluids) does not spread Lassa virus. Person-to-person transmission is common in health care settings (called nosocomial transmission) where proper personal protective equipment (PPE) is not available or not used. Lassa virus may be spread in contaminated medical equipment, such as reused needles.

www.cdc.gov...

reply to post by itsallmaya

Not to diminish the scare, but at least according to the CDC is not an airborne disease easily picked up by others.

That's a given of course. The real points here are:

* Any disease is just a plane ride away, and

* We mess with our planet and its environment at our own risk.

Conspiracyskeptic
This is very interesting because i've read about Ebola but i've never heard of Lassa Fever before.
Be interesting to see what the RNA seqeuence of Lassa Fever looks like compared to Ebola.
Btw West Africa is definitely off my travel list.

edit on 4-4-2014 by Conspiracyskeptic because: Adding to post

If funny Lassa rarely heard off but its estmated to cause 5000 deaths a year in west Africa and the bastard doesnt just appear in sporadic outbreaks like Ebola but is endemic to certain areas.

Ebola gets all the public attention but if you vist Africa your more likley to catch Lassa than ebola and risk dieing in the same grissly way.

reply to post by crazyewok


I developed a healthy regard for hemorrhagic fevers while living in New Mexico with hanta virus, but don't really get all in a knot about any one of them or other diseases. I'm curious and like to know how things work - especially in terms of ecology in the larger sense. My agenda is about drawing attention to the impacts of human activities on viruses and microbes, and the ultimate effects on ourselves. It all starts with epigenetic processes, imho. Not so much inclined to strut my stuff and use threads as a photo opp though. But hey. Everyone has their own needs and motives.