Background
Lassa fever is refereed to as a zootonic disease due to the fact that humans get infected with it when they come in contact with infected animals, in this case the Mastomys rat. Rats infected with Lassa virus do not become ill since they can shed the virus in their urine and faeces.
Symptoms of Lassa fever
The unset of the disease is gradual, beginning with fever, weakness, and malaise. After a few days, the patient begins to experience headache, sore throat, muscle pain, chest pain, nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea, cough, and abdominal pain. In extreme cases facial swelling, bleeding from the mouth, nose, vagina and sometimes a low blood pressure may develop.
Shock, seizures, tremor, disorientation, coma, deafness, hair loss are some characteristics of the later stages of the disease. Death usually occurs within 14 days from onset in fatal cases.
Transmission
Humans become infected with Lassa virus from exposure to secretions of infected rodent. Lassa virus is spread between humans through direct contact with the faeces and secretions of a person infected with Lassa fever. Lassa fever occurs in all age groups, medical personnels who treat infected patients are at high risk of contracting the virus. (WHO)
Prevention and control
Good community hygiene which keeps the rodent pathogens aways is the most effective way of preventing human contact with the virus. Personal hygiene also comes into play to prevent contracting the virus from an infected person.
In medical environments, staffs should always adhere to standard prevention and control procedures when attending to infected patients.
Statistics
Nigeria is suffering its worst outbreak of Lassa fever, about 72 people have died since the start of this year of the 317 confirmed cases as reported by Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC)
Conclusion
A recent outbreak of Lassa fever in the south west part of Nigeria has left patients and medical workers dead leaving nothing both tears in the eyes of their loved once. Proper knowledge and application of that knowledge just might have saved them. This Post is aimed at educating the masses on the endemic disease known as Lassa Fever.
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