The New Jersey Health Department and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed the death of a man due to Lassa fever.
The man had returned to the United States after a trip to Liberia, stopping over in Morocco before arriving at the JFK International Airport last May 17. At the time the man left Liberia, he didn't have a feverish temperature and didn't manifest symptoms like bleeding, vomiting and diarrhea during his flight back to the U.S. When he arrived in the country, his temperature was also normal.
After experiencing tiredness, a fever and sore throat, the man headed to a New Jersey hospital for a check-up. According to the hospital, the man didn't disclose recently traveling to West Africa. The man returned home but was rushed back to the hospital on May 21 after his symptoms worsened.
He was then transferred to another hospital equipped for treating viral hemorrhagic fevers. Some samples were sent to the CDC for testing and it was confirmed Monday that the man had Lassa fever. Tests for the Ebola virus and other kinds of viral hemorrhagic fevers turned out negative. The man died in isolation in the evening of the same day.
Public health officials in New Jersey and the CDC are working to compile a list of individuals that the man may have had come into contact with. Those identified will undergo monitoring for a 21-day period to observe if they will manifest symptoms of Lassa fever.
Though common in West Africa, Lassa fever is rarely encountered in the U.S. In fact, no person-to-person transmission of the disease has ever been reported and that there are only six known cases of Lassa fever from travelers returning to the U.S. since 1969, excluding convalescent patients. The last case reported was in 2014 in Minnesota.
And while Lassa fever can result in hemorrhagic symptoms, it is different from Ebola. It is less fatal, for starters, resulting only in a fatality rate of 1 percent compared to Ebola's 70 percent when treatment is not provided.
West Africa sees between 100,000 and 300,000 cases of the disease every year, with around 5,000 resulting in deaths. The Lassa virus is transmitted to humans through contact with rodent droppings or urine. If a person is infected though, they may be able to get others sick through contact with their bodily fluids or sexual activity.
Photo: Claus Rebler | Flickr
