Officials say an Iowa man is dying of rare Lassa fever

State officials said Monday that an eastern Iowa man who had recently traveled to West Africa has died after catching Lassa fever. The virus, which is in the same viral hemorrhagic fever category as Ebola, is rarely seen in the United States.

Iowa Department of Health and Human Services announced death on Monday, but did not reveal the person’s name and revealed few details about him. Initial tests showed a presumptive positive result for the virus, and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is working to confirm the diagnosis.

The department said the person was middle-aged and had traveled to West Africa, where he likely contracted the virus.

According to Iowa Chief Medical Officer Dr. Robert Kruse, the current risk of transmission of the virus in the United States is “incredibly low.”

Each year, approximately 100,000 to 300,000 people become infected with Lassa fever in West Africawhere the disease is endemic – reports the Center for Research and Policy of Infectious Diseases at ul University of Minnesota. There have only been eight cases of the disease reported in the U.S. since 1969, and all were travel-related.

It is even rarer for someone to die from Lassa fever. According to WHO data, the mortality rate from this disease is only 1%. World Health Organization.

In severe cases, the patient may experience bleeding; difficulty breathing; pain in the chest, back and abdomen; and vomiting.

A person with milder symptoms may experience a slight fever, feel tired or have a headache. Most people infected with Lassa virus have no symptoms.

Lassa fever can spread from person to person, but not through casual contact. Typically, the virus only spreads when someone comes into contact with the body fluids of an infected person.

Lassa fever is most commonly spread by the breeding rat in West Africa. People can become ill after touching objects contaminated with rat droppings or urine or eating contaminated food. According to scientists, some people also get sick after eating only rats CDC.

Prompt treatment is believed to be crucial in Lassa fever. The primary treatment is ribavirin, a broad-spectrum antiviral drug that works well against RNA viruses and is also used to treat hepatitis C.

Kruse said his department is investigating and monitoring the situation in collaboration with the CDC and local public health partners. Agencies are trying to determine who may have had close contact with the patient, who was being treated in isolation at the University of Iowa Medical Center.

The CDC says the patient did not become ill during the trip, so the risk to other airline passengers is very low.

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