Lassa Fever Kills man from New Jersey

Trenton, NJ (Sept 3)- A new Jersey man who recently returned from a trip to Librera has died of an illness that has not been detected in the United States since 1989, but is common in West Africa.

aolsvcnews.aol.com...

The man was only 38 and died of Lassa fever, a virus that is spread through rat droppings and urine. It is passed to other people from body fluids and not casual contact. The CDC does not think anyone else was exposed.

I think what they really are saying is they hope no one else was exposed, if the man sneeze in the airplane on the way home or at any time before being admitted to the hospital he coud have infected any # of people. Then when he was admitted the health care workers at the hospital would have been vunerable.. Scientist say it is only a matter of time before one of these type virus's become an epidemic in the US and elsewhere.

When i tried to view the link it says page cannot be displayed. How deadly is this virus?

www.cdc.gov...

I looks like it's fairly virulent, but not in the same class as the filoviruses...