What to know about Lassa fever after an Iowa resident dies from a rare disease

Officials said an Iowa man has died after contracting Lassa fever.

According to the website, the patient was diagnosed on Tuesday after returning to the United States from West Africa earlier this month Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Iowa Department of Health and Human Services (IDHHS).

According to officials, the patient was hospitalized in isolation at the University of Iowa Medical Center in Iowa City and died Tuesday afternoon.

MORE: Human infections caused by rat urine are on the rise in New York

Health officials have said the disease’s risk to the public is low, with cases typically found only in West Africa.

Here’s what you need to know about Lassa fever, its spread and treatment:

What is Lassa fever?

Lassa fever is an “acute viral hemorrhagic disease caused by Lassa virus.” World Health Organization.

“Lassa fever is a potentially life-threatening viral disease,” Dr. Albert Ko, Raj and Indra Nooyi Professor of Public Health at the Yale School of Public Health, told ABC News. “The virus, which belongs to a class of family called arenaviruses, is transmitted by rats, especially in western Africa.”

According to scientists, the virus is transmitted mainly by polysacral rats belonging to the genus Mastomys CDC.

Only male rats in West African countries – such as Guinea, Liberia, Nigeria and Sierra Leone – are known to carry the virus. However, people living in neighboring countries are also at risk of Lassa virus infection.

The CDC said the first documented case was identified in 1969 in Lassa, Nigeria, which gave the disease its name.

According to data published in the United States, there have only been eight travel-related cases of Lassa fever in the last 55 years IDHHSmaking its occurrence in the US very rare.

How does Lassa fever spread?

Lassa fever is common spread through contact with urine or feces of infected rats. Multi-mating rats often live in areas where food supplies are stored. Such exposure can occur by touching contaminated objects, eating contaminated food, infecting an open cut or sore with the virus, eating infected rodents, or inhaling air contaminated with infected urine or feces, such as when cleaning or sweeping, according to the CDC.

Lassa fever can also be transmitted from person to person through contact with the blood or body fluids of an infected person or through sexual contact.

“It is not an airborne disease. This is not something like Covid-19,” Dr. Robert Murphy, a professor of infectious diseases at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, told ABC News. “(Lassa fever), it must be fluid. … So you don’t have to worry about being in the same room with someone, but you do have to worry if you’ve touched them or had contact with them and exposure to the fluids that they have.”

What are the symptoms of Lassa fever?

According to researchers, symptoms of Lassa fever usually appear one to three weeks after initial infection CDC.

MORE: Colorado public health officials confirm case of human plague in state

The CDC says about 8 in 10 people with Lassa fever have mild symptoms, including mild fever, fatigue, weakness and headaches, or experience no symptoms at all and are never diagnosed. The remaining 20% ​​will experience serious symptoms, which may include bleeding, facial swelling and vomiting, as well as pain in the chest, back and abdomen, difficulty breathing and shock.

Experts say complications could include hearing loss and acute kidney failure. According to the CDC, if a pregnant woman becomes infected, the risk of miscarriage is high – about 95% of fetuses do not survive.

Less than 1% of people infected with Lassa fever die. However, among seriously ill and hospitalized people, the mortality rate is approximately 15%.

“Once they get seriously ill, death happens quite quickly. It usually takes seven to 14 days,” Murphy said.

He added that diagnosing Lassa fever can be difficult because it is not routine to test for the virus. People handling samples must be careful to avoid coming into contact with them and becoming infected, Murphy said.

How is Lassa fever treated?

Patients with Lassa fever may be given an antiviral drug called ribavirin. According to scientists, the drug is most effective when given to a patient soon after he or she becomes ill and symptoms appear. CDC.

Supportive care, including rest, hydration and treatment of symptoms of the virus, is also recommended.

Tips for preventing Lassa fever

There are currently no vaccines to prevent Lassa virus infection.

If someone is going to West Africa, then The CDC says The primary method of preventing Lassa fever infection is to stay away from rats.

The CDC also recommends storing food in rat-proof containers and keeping your home clean. Eating rats should also be avoided, and any rats should be caught and disposed of in and around homes.

That said, most Americans don’t need to worry about Lassa fever, said Dr. Ko of the Yale School of Public Health.

“It’s a disease that really is a major public health problem, but it’s in West Africa,” he said. “It is not a disease that is easily transmitted from place to place, unlike some of the other diseases we face such as Zika and Covid, and that is because people are not usually contagious until they start developing symptoms, and in many cases we can screen and know people who are sick, you know, identify them and isolate them before they start traveling.”

What to know about Lassa fever after an Iowa resident dies from a rare disease originally appeared abcnews.go.com