infectious diseases
Lassa Fever
Key Points
Lassa fever is usually transmitted by consuming food contaminated with rodent excreta, but human-to-human transmission can occur via infected urine, feces, saliva, vomitus, or blood. Symptoms may progress from fever, weakness, malaise, and gastrointestinal symptoms to prostration with sore throat, cough, chest pain, and vomiting; sometimes to shock, delirium, rales, and pleural effusion; and occasionally to severe illness and shock. For the most rapid diagnosis, use PCR, but antibody tests can also be used. Lassa fever is severe during pregnancy; most infected pregnant women lose the fetus. Ribavirin, if begun within the first 6 days, may reduce mortality up to 10-fold; supportive treatment, including correction of fluid and electrolyte imbalances, is imperative. 