UK registered Ebola-like disease is endemic to Africa but is less lethal
By: VirgilioNotizie | Posted on:
The United Kingdom Health Safety Agency (UKHSA) has identified three cases of Lassa fever, a life-threatening infectious disease with Ebola-like characteristics. One of the patients died, he was part of a family, together with the other two infected people, who had recently returned from a trip to Africa.
These are the first cases of Lassa fever recorded in Great Britain since 2009, up to now in the country they had been reported only eight games since the early 1980s.
British health authorities said they were working to trace “people who had close contact with cases prior to confirmation of their infection, to provide appropriate assessments, support and advice.”
UKHSA Chief Medical Advisor Susan Hopkins reassured that there is no public health risk: “Cases of Lassa fever are rare in the UK and don’t spread easily among people. “
Lassa fever, virus and symptoms: what it is
As explained by the website of the Higher Institute of Health on its website, Lassa fever is a disease that is part of the viral haemorrhagic fever group (Fev)“Systemic pathologies of viral origin, characterized by sudden, acute onset and often accompanied by haemorrhagic manifestations”.
This type of infections are caused by virus and Rna (arenavirus, bunyavirus, filovirus, flavivirus), which proliferate in natural reservoirs as species of animals or insects indigenous to specific areas of the planet.
In particular, Lassa fever is caused by the infection of an Rna virus belonging to famiglia of the Arenaviridaewidespread mainly in Africa, especially through the Mastomys rodents.
The disease is named after the Nigerian city where, in 1969two missionary nurses died of this hitherto unknown disease.
In 80% of cases the pathology takes a mild formor even asymptomatic, and may initially manifest with generic symptoms such as: fever, headache, myalgia, pharyngodynia with tonsillar exudate, difficulty in feeding (dysphagia), dry cough, chest pain (sometimes severe back pain), abdominal cramps, nausea , vomiting and diarrhea.
In the remaining 20% of the most severe cases it can cause swelling of the face, fluid in the lung cavity, bleeding from the mouth, nose, vagina or gastrointestinal tract and low blood pressure.
As recalled by the World Health Organization, of patients suffering from Lassa fever 1% diesbut lethality can rise to 15-20% in untreated cases.
Photo source: ANSA
Researchers working on Lassa fever in a laboratory dedicated to tropical diseases
Lassa fever, origin and spread: where it comes from
Lassa fever is a disease that is endemic in Africa: in the western region of the continent every year there are 100 thousand to 300 thousand cases.
In some areas of Sierra Leone and Liberia, 10 to 16% of people admitted to hospital annually have Lassa fever.
According to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention of the United States, the virus causes about 5 thousand deathsalthough the CDC specify that it is not possible to know exactly how many cases there are because there is no standard registration of the disease.
Lassa fever: how it is transmitted
Lassa fever is transmitted from the direct contact with rodent excreta or via aerosol of excreta (ie substances expelled from the body) and saliva of rodents.
ISS experts explain that, as well as for all hemorrhagic fevershumans are not natural reservoirs for the virusbut can be infected through contact with infected animals or vector arthropods.
Only in some cases can human-to-human transmission occur, through direct contact with blood, tissues, secretions or excretions of infected people, especially in the family and in the hospital.
Photo source: ANSA