Laboratory Diagnosis of Lassa Fever, Liberia

ports on Lassa fever in southern and central parts of Nigeria. That healthcare workers are still at as high a risk of contracting and dying from the disease as they were 20 years ago (8) is alarming. A key to solving this problem would be the establishment of diagnostic facilities that can provide rapid molecular testing at referral centers in the disease-endemic zones. This testing would facilitate appropriate case and contact management, including early treatment and postexposure prophylaxis with ribavirin, and eventually raise awareness that Lassa fever should be considered in every severe febrile illness in these regions.