A middle-aged Iowan died from Lassa fever, which he had contracted while traveling to West Africa. Health officials say there is little risk of spread in the United States, where the CDC is racing to confirm the diagnosis.
A middle-aged eastern Iowa resident has died from a rare case of Lassa fever, a virus commonly found in West Africa.
The individual is believed to have contracted the illness during recent travel to the region, according to a statement issued by the Iowa Department of Health and Human Services on Monday.
Being a viral hemorrhagic disease just like Ebola, this unfortunate case has brought questions on Lassa fever among people.
As State Medical Director of Iowa, Dr. Robert Kruse, noted, “The risk still remains incredibly low for Americans.” Casual contact does not spread the virus, so people are only at an increased risk when they directly come into close contact with such an infected person’s body fluids.
Multimammate rats are the primary vectors of Lassa fever in West Africa. These people catch the disease, and this can occur with anyone who consumes infected rats or who touches infected food or infected surfaces.
The symptoms, in fact, vary as follows: minor symptoms being headache and exhaustion and so on, but some minor ones can lead to complications like internal bleeding and the worst of it, distress caused by breathing problems.
Generally, deaths are not experienced. It has an almost negligible mortality rate of 1%. According to the World Health Organization
To affirm the diagnosis and observe anyone who could have had a close contact with the patient, CDC is now working with health officials of Iowa.
As further means to minimize the transmission potential, the patient was managed in isolation and CDC had confirmed that the patient was well upon returning back to the United States.
