Lassa Fever  also known as Lassa Hemorrhagic Fever is a viral disease that is caused by Lassa Virus. The virus was discovered in Nigeria in the year 1969 and it was named after a town in Borno State and over the years the disease has spread all over the West Africa Countries including Liberia, Sierra Leone, Ghana and Guinea.

The virus is usually spread through the urine and feces of infected multimammate mouse and this Lassa virus is a member of the Arenaviridae Family of Viruses.

Signs and Symptoms

Lassa Fever cannot be concluded with just symptoms expect a laboratory test is carried out to confirm the illness but usually the symptoms comes out like 1-3 weeks after exposure to the virus.

Some symptoms like the following might come up

1. Fever

2. Vomiting

3. Headache

4. Weaknesses

5. Muscle pains

 

Treatment and Prevention

Up till date, there have no treatment or vaccination discovered for Lassa Fever yet . To prevent further spread of the disease infected persons should be isolated and also there should be less contact with mice. Although, a medication called antiviral medication ribavirin tested to have successfully cured the illness but the healing chances is weak.

 

Control

To control the virus from affecting the human race, the following should be done;

1. Always make sure that the environment is clean and free from rodents

2. Make sure that all cooking utensils are washed properly

3. All waste bin should be properly be disposed

4. Personal hygiene should be encouraged

Risk Factor

The people that are most prominent to the virus are usually people from West Africa , they stand a very high chance and risk of being infected by the virus.