Hello to my wonderful SEREY family, I hope you are doing well and everything is going in the right way. Today I will like to enlighten you about a very deadly disease ravaging the west Africa sub-region over some decades ago after being investigated and fully reported in Nigeria.
This disease is what we called LASSA FEVER
Now let me tell you in details what is known as Lassa Fever
Lassa fever is a viral disease discovered as far as 1950s but was fully investigated and reported in 1969 when some missionary nurses from the United States died of it in Nigeria.
Lassa fever took its name from the place it was first reported which is called LASSA in Nigeria's Bornu state.
Lassa fever is a zoonotic infection, meaning it is a disease transmitted from animals to humans mainly the rodents such as Natal multimammate mouse scientifically known as Mastomys natalensis or simply an African rat. The disease can also be transmitted from human to human if a person got in contact with an infected person's sweat, saliva, blood, urine, or any other body fluids that comes from such a person if care is not taken.
Likewise this infection is a Nosocomial infection meaning it can be contracted from the hospital both to the health workers and even a hospitalized person if proper preventive measures is not taken.
This mouse is majorly found in west and east African forests and bushes and it is even eaten by some people as a delicacy. This animal has the potential to breed a large number of offspring within short time which makes it easier for it to colonize human settlement and of course this brings about the risk of rodent-human contact and disease transmission. Lassa fever infection is relatively common in west African countries which include; Nigeria, Liberia, Guinea, Sierra Leone and Ghana.
Natal multimammate mouse can sometimes be a potential carrier of Lassa virus, in which once it has come in contact with this virus, it will excrete it throughout its life in both urine and faeces because this virus has already replicated and colonize its blood though this virus does not affect the life activities of the mouse but it can affect humans and is one of the several viruses listed by World Health Organization WHO as a potential cause of future epidemic disease.
One funny thing about this virus is that, some people who are infected by it do not show any symptoms and it remains hidden in them but in some individuals the symptoms of the infection show and manifest which is usually disastrous. The symptoms includes: pyrexia, nausea, vomiting, headaches, muscle pains and cramps, chest pains, breathing difficulties and so on. Long term complications may include complete hearing loss
The disease sometimes in some people can include bleeding from the oral cavity, gastrointestinal tract or even any openings of the body such as vagina and nostrils and that is the reason why it is sometimes referred to as LASSA HEMORRHAGIC FEVER (LHF).
Individuals who are at higher risks of getting infected are those who are living in rural areas which is filthy and not sanitized and Mastomys rat is found there in higher numbers.
Lassa fever infection is majorly contracted either through direct or indirect exposure to the animal's wastes, egestion or body fluids which is transmitted to humans through the respiratory tract by inhaling or gastrointestinal tract by eating
Inhalation of particles of infectious substances seems to be the major means of getting exposed to it. Also it can be acquired through injured skin or mucous membranes that are directly exposed to infected materials.
The virus is noticed in the urine few weeks after infection and it can also be revealed by laboratory findings for like 3 months after becoming infected and it can be even found in the cerebrospinal fluid.
Sometimes, Lassa fever might be a little difficult to diagnose due to overlap of its symptoms with those common diseases in west Africa such as Yellow fever, Malaria, Typhoid, Ebola and as such it requires a thorough laboratory test of the blood of the infected person which will reveal the presence of Lassa virus provided it is the cause of the infection.
Although Lassa fever is sometimes difficult to detect at early stage if not subjected to proper laboratory test but there are some symptoms such as inflammation of the pharynx, chest pain, proteinuria and feverish conditions can indicate Lassa fever with a higher specificity
There is no vaccine yet for Lassa fever either for prevention or treatment, so it is always better to prevent getting in touch with it because prevention is better than cure
One of the key ways to prevent human-to-human infection of Lassa fever is to isolating those who are infected by placing them in a well monitored isolation centres
Also, decrease in contact with rodents and if at all we have to eat any bush meat we should make sure we cook eat it for a very long time under high temperature so as to get rid of possible infectious microorganisms present in it.
Furthermore, another method to control the spread of the infection is the use of CAT to hunt down rats and other rodents around the house
Also, rat poisons, gum-sticking traps can also be used in hunting down rodents so as to reduce their numbers in the environment. Keeping the house and surrounding clean and tidy is also a good measure as this prevent rodents from entering houses.
Lastly, we should try as much as possible to keep our food in a sealed rodent free container so to be safe from this deadly virus.
The use of an antiviral drug known as RIBAVIRIN is usually recommended for treatment though it was reported to be weak and can even worsen the symptoms at times
Other treatment steps include , dehydrating the patient and infusing new body fluids, blood transfusion and some intravenous therapy might also be required so as to get rid of the virus from the body system and return it back to normalcy
Thanks for going through my post
Stay Healthy, Safe and Happy SEREY
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Lasa fever is a serious disease that need to be addressed and eradicated permanently.
Yes exactly bros especially in west African nations which seems to be majorly affected by this deadly disease
Thank you for sharing this post in SEREY NIGERIA
This post is manually curated by chibuzorwisdom