Skip directly to site content Skip directly to page options Skip directly to A-Z link Skip directly to A-Z link Skip directly to A-Z link

Volume 12, Number 5—May 2006

Dispatch

Historical Lassa Fever Reports and 30-year Clinical Update

Abe M. Macher*Comments to Author  and Martin S. Wolfe†‡§
Author affiliations: *US Public Health Service (retired), Bethesda, Maryland, USA; †Travelers Medical Service of Washington, Washington, DC, USA; ‡George Washington University School of Medicine, Washington, DC, USA; §Georgetown University School of Medicine, Washington, DC, USA

Main Article

Table A1

Patients with imported Lassa fever, worldwide, 1969–2004

Year of import From To Occupation Clinical outcome Reference
1969 Nigeria United States Nurse Survived (10)
1971 Sierra Leone United Kingdom Nurse Survived (11)
1971 Sierra Leone United Kingdom Physician Survived (11)
1972 Sierra Leone United Kingdom Nurse Survived (12)
1974 Nigeria Germany Physician Survived (13)
1975 Nigeria United Kingdom Physician Died (13)
1975 Sierra Leone United States Aid worker Survived
1976 Sierra Leone United States Aid worker Survived (14)
1976 Nigeria United Kingdom Engineer Survived (15)
1980 Upper Volta Netherlands Aid worker Survived (16)
1981 Nigeria United Kingdom Teacher Survived (17)
1982 Nigeria United Kingdom Diplomat Survived (18)
1984 Sierra Leone United Kingdom Geologist Survived (19)
1985 Sierra Leone United Kingdom Nurse Survived (20)
1987 Sierra Leone/Liberia Israel Engineer Survived (21)
1987 Sierra Leone Japan Engineer Survived (22)
1989 Nigeria Canada Agricultural specialist Survived (23)
1989 Nigeria United States Engineer Died (24)
2000 Cotê d'Ivoire/Burkina Faso/Ghana Germany Student Died (25)
2000 Sierra Leone United Kingdom Peacekeeper Died (25)
2000 Nigeria Germany Unknown Died (25)
2000 Sierra Leone Netherlands Physician Died (25)
2003 Sierra Leone United Kingdom Peacekeeper Survived (26)
2004 Sierra Leone/Liberia United States Businessman Died (27)

Main Article

References
  1. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Imported Lassa fever—New Jersey, 2004. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep. 2004;53:894–7.PubMedGoogle Scholar
  2. Zweighaft  RM, Fraser  DW, Hattwick  MA, Winkler  WG, Jordan  WC, Alter  M, Lassa fever: response to an imported case. N Engl J Med. 1977;297:803–7. DOIPubMedGoogle Scholar
  3. Fisher-Hoch  SP, Tomori  O, Nasidi  A, Perez-Oronoz  GI, Fakile  Y, Hutwagner  L, Review of cases of nosocomial Lassa fever in Nigeria: the high price of poor medical practice. BMJ. 1995;311:857–9. DOIPubMedGoogle Scholar
  4. Rybak  LP. Deafness associated with Lassa fever. JAMA. 1990;264:2119. DOIPubMedGoogle Scholar
  5. White  HA. Lassa fever: a study of 23 hospital cases. Trans R Soc Trop Med Hyg. 1972;66:390–401. DOIPubMedGoogle Scholar
  6. Henderson  BE, Gary  GW, Kissling  RE, Frame  JD, Carey  DE. Lassa fever: virological and serological studies. Trans R Soc Trop Med Hyg. 1972;66:409–16. DOIPubMedGoogle Scholar
  7. Rose  JR. A new clinical entity? Lancet. 1956;2:197.
  8. Rose  JR. An outbreak of encephalomyelitis in Sierra Leone. Lancet. 1957;273:914–6. DOIPubMedGoogle Scholar
  9. Solbrig  MV, McCormick  JB. Lassa fever: central nervous system manifestations. J Trop Geogr Neurol. 1991;1:23–30.
  10. Frame  JD, Baldwin  JM, Gocke  DJ, Troup  JM. Lassa fever, a new virus disease of man from West Africa. I. Clinical description and pathological findings. Am J Trop Med Hyg. 1970;19:670–6.PubMedGoogle Scholar
  11. Gilles  HM, Kent  JC. Lassa fever: retrospective diagnosis of two patients seen in Great Britain in 1971. BMJ. 1976;2:1173. DOIPubMedGoogle Scholar
  12. Woodruff  AW, Monath  TP, Mahmoud  AA, Pain  AK, Morris  CA. Lassa fever in Britain: An imported case. BMJ. 1973;3:616–7. DOIPubMedGoogle Scholar
  13. Vella  EE. Lassa fever. Hospital Update. 1976;2:31–7.
  14. Zweighaft  RM, Fraser  DW, Hattwick  MA, Winkler  WG, Jordan  WC, Alter  M, Lassa fever: response to an imported case. N Engl J Med. 1977;297:803–7. DOIPubMedGoogle Scholar
  15. Department of Health and Social Security. Annual report of the chief medical officer. On the state of the public health for the year 1976. London: The Department; 1977. p. 52–3.
  16. World Health Organization. Lassa fever surveillance. Wkly Epidemiol Rec. 1981;56:47–8.
  17. World Health Organization. Lassa fever surveillance. Wkly Epidemiol Rec. 1982;57:342.
  18. Cooper  CB, Gransden  WR, Webster  M, King  M, O'Mahony  M, Young  S, A case of Lassa fever: experience at St Thomas's Hospital. BMJ. 1982;285:1003–5. DOIPubMedGoogle Scholar
  19. Emond  RTD, Weir  WR, Bowen  ET, Llloyd  G, Southee  T. Managing Lassa fever. Lancet. 1984;2:926. DOIPubMedGoogle Scholar
  20. Fisher-Hoch  SP, Price  ME, Craven  RB, Price  FM, Forthall  DN, Sasso  DR, Safe intensive-care management of a severe case of Lassa fever with simple barrier nursing techniques. Lancet. 1985;2:1227–9. DOIPubMedGoogle Scholar
  21. Schlaeffer  F, Bar-Lavie  Y, Sikuler  E, Alkan  M, Keynan  A. Evidence against high contagiousness of Lassa fever. Trans R Soc Trop Med Hyg. 1988;82:311. DOIPubMedGoogle Scholar
  22. Hirabayashi  Y, Oka  S, Goto  H, Shimada  K, Kurata  T, Fisher-Hoch  SP, An imported case of Lassa fever with late appearance of polyserositis. J Infect Dis. 1988;158:872–5. DOIPubMedGoogle Scholar
  23. Mahdy  MS, Chiang  W, McLaughlin  B, Derksen  K, Truxton  BH, Neg  K. Lassa fever: The first confirmed case imported into Canada. Can Dis Wkly Rep. 1989;15:193–8.PubMedGoogle Scholar
  24. Holmes  GP, McCormick  JB, Trock  SC, Chase  RA, Lewis  SM, Mason  CA, Lassa fever in the United States. Investigation of a case and new guidelines for management. N Engl J Med. 1990;323:1120–3. DOIPubMedGoogle Scholar
  25. Schmitz  H, Kohler  B, Lane  T, Drosten  C, Veldkamp  PJ, Gunther  S, Monitoring of clinical and laboratory data in two cases of imported Lassa fever. Microbes Infect. 2002;4:43–50. DOIPubMedGoogle Scholar
  26. Public Health Laboratory Service Communicable Disease Surveillance Center. Case of Lassa fever in a soldier returning to the United Kingdom. Commun Dis Rep CDR Wkly. 2003;13:1–2.
  27. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Imported Lassa fever—New Jersey, 2004. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep. 2004;53:894–7.PubMedGoogle Scholar

Main Article

1Portions of this patient's clinical signs and symptoms were originally published in Zweighaft et al. (2).

Page created: January 12, 2012
Page updated: January 12, 2012
Page reviewed: January 12, 2012
The conclusions, findings, and opinions expressed by authors contributing to this journal do not necessarily reflect the official position of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the Public Health Service, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, or the authors' affiliated institutions. Use of trade names is for identification only and does not imply endorsement by any of the groups named above.
file_external