Lassa fever in Panguma Hospital, Sierra Leone, 1973-6.

Lassa Fever in Post-Conflict Sierra Leone

BACKGROUND Lassa fever (LF), an often-fatal hemorrhagic disease caused by Lassa virus (LASV), is a major public health threat in West Africa. When the violent civil conflict in Sierra Leone (1991 to 2002) ended, an international consortium assisted in restoration of the LF program at Kenema Government Hospital (KGH) in an area with the world's highest incidence of the disease. METHODOLOGY/PRI...

The process and practice of diagnosis: innovations in diagnostics for Lassa fever in Sierra Leone

E-alert 24 July: Case of Lassa fever imported into Germany from Sierra Leone.

Sequence Variability and Geographic Distribution of Lassa Virus, Sierra Leone

Lassa virus (LASV) is endemic to parts of West Africa and causes highly fatal hemorrhagic fever. The multimammate rat (Mastomys natalensis) is the only known reservoir of LASV. Most human infections result from zoonotic transmission. The very diverse LASV genome has 4 major lineages associated with different geographic locations. We used reverse transcription PCR and resequencing microarrays to...

Poor housing quality increases risk of rodent infestation and Lassa fever in refugee camps of Sierra Leone.

Lassa fever, a viral hemorrhagic fever endemic in parts of West Africa, is a severe febrile illness transmitted to humans by the rodent Mastomys natalensis. To determine risk of Lassa fever in households in Sierra Leonean refugee camps, we analyzed the spatial relationships between households with a Lassa case and focal locations of potential rodent habitats. Quality and hygiene factors of hous...