Lassa fever and the Nigerian experience: a review
Keywords:
Lassa fever, Mastomys natalensis, Arenaviridae, Ribavirin, Nigeria
Abstract
The occurrence, transmission and intervention strategies on the Lassa fever disease in Nigeria are presented. The Lassa virus is an enveloped, single stranded, bi-segmented RNA virus that belong to the Arenaviridae family was first reported in 1969 from Lassa village, Borno State, Nigeria. The primary animal reservoir for the virus is the multi-mammate rat (Mastomys natalensis). It is transmitted to humans through the excreta of infected carrier, often via contaminated food and human-to-human transmission. The most common treatment intervention is ribavirin which carries out its function by inhibiting virus replication. Extensive investigation is being carried out to arrive at an effective vaccine. Keeping rodents out of homes and food supplies, as well as maintaining effective personal hygiene are the most viable preventive measures against the disease.
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References
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2. Nasir IA, Sani FM. Outbreaks, pathogen containment and laboratory investigation of Lassa fever in Nigeria: how prepared are we? Int J Tropic Dis Hlth. 2015; 10(1): 1-10.
3. Tomori O, Fisher-Hoch SP, Nasidi A, Perez-Oronoz GI, Fakile Y, Hutwagner L, McCormick JB. Review of cases of nosocomial Lassa fever in Nigeria: the high price of poor medical practice. British Med J. 2014; 311: 857-859.
4. Jiang X, Huang Q, Wang W, Dong H, Ly H, Liang Y, Dong C. Structures of arenaviral nucleoproteins with triphosphate dsRNA reveal a unique mechanism of immune suppression. J Biol Chem. 2013; 288: 16949-16959.
5. WHO. Target Product Profile for Lassa virus Vaccine, June 2017. http://www.who.int/blueprint/priority-diseases/keyaction/LassaVirusVaccine2018.pdf
6. NCDC. Standard operating procedures for Lassas fever case management. Abuja; 2017.
7. Fischer-Hoch SP, McCormick JB. Towards a human Lassa fever vaccine. Rev Med Virol. 2001; 11(5): 331-341.
8. Ajayi NA, Nwigwe CG, Azuogu BN, Onyire BN, Nwonwu EU. Containing a Lassa fever epidemic in a resource-limited setting: Outbreak description and lessons learned from Abakaliki, Nigeria. Int J Infectious Dis. 2013; 17(11): 1011-1016.
9. Omeh DJ, Achinge GI, Echekwube PO. Lassa fever in West Africa: a clinical and epidemiological review. J Adv Med Med Res. 2017; 24(6): 1-12.
10. WHO. Technical Guidelines for Integrated Disease Surveillance and Response in the African Region. 2010.
11. Mofolorunsho KC. Outbreak of Lassa fever in Nigeria: Measures for prevention and control. Pan Afric Med J. 2016; 23(210): 1-10.
12. Ogoina D. Lassa fever: A clinical and epidemiological review. Nig Delta J Med Res. 2015; 1(1): 16-22.
13. Tambo E, Adetunde O, Olalubi O. Re-emerging Lassa fever outbreaks in Nigeria: Re-enforcing “One Health” community surveillance and emergency response practice. Infect Dis Poverty. 2018; 7: 1-8.
14. Azeez-Akande O. A review of Lassa fever, an emerging old world haemorrhagic viral disease in sub-saharan Africa. Afric J Clin Exp Microbiol. 2016; 17(4): 282-289.
15. Ruo SL, Mitchell SW, Kiley, MP, Roumillat LF, Fisher-Hoch SP, Cormick JB. Antigenic relatedness between arenaviruses defined at the epitope level by monoclonal antibodies. J Gen Virol. 1991; 72: 549-555.
16. Leski TA, Stockelman MG, Moses LM, Park M, Stenger DA, Ansumana R. Sequence variability and geographic distribution of Lassa virus, Sierra Leone. Emerg Infect Dis. 2015; 21(4): 609-618.
17. Ibekwe T. Lassa fever: The challenges of curtailing a deadly disease. Pan Afric Med J. 2012; 11: 1-6.
18. Idemyor V. Lassa virus infection in Nigeria: clinical perspective overview. J Nat Med Assoc. 2010; 102: 1243-1246.
19. Yun NE, Walker DH. Pathogenesis of Lassa fever viruses. J Infect Dis. 2012; 4(10): 2031-2048.
20. Adebayo D, Nwobi EA, Vincent T, Gonzalez, JP. Response preparedness to viral haemorrhagic fever in Nigeria: Risk perception, attitude towards Lassa fever. J Infect Dis. 2015; 5(12): 2035-2040.
21. NCDC. Situation report of Lassa fever outbreak in Nigeria. http://www.ncdc.gov.ng/diseases/sitreps/Nigeria. Retrieved December, 2018.
22. MSF Lassa fever: A challenging disease to diagnose and treat Médecins Sans Frontièreshttps://reliefweb.int/report/nigeria/lassa-fever-challenging-disease-diagnose-and-treat-2019.pdf
23. Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention. Lassa fever Fact Sheet; 2018. http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dvrd/pb/mnpages/dispages/Fact_Sheets/Lassa_Fever_Fact_Sheet-2018.pdf
24. WHO Lassa Fever – Nigeria. 2019. https://www.who.int/csr/don/14-february-2019-lassa-fever-nigeria/en/-2019.pdf
25. NCDC. Experts Meet to Discuss Lassa fever Control. http://www.ncdc.gov.ng/reports/weekly-2018.pdf
26. Richmond JK, Bankole DJ. Lassa fever: Epidemiology, clinical features, and social consequences. Brit Med J. 2017; 327(7426): 1271-1275.
27. Ogoina D. Lassa fever: A clinical and epidemiological review. Nig Delta J Med Res. 2013; 1(1): 1-10.
28. Charrel RN, de Lamballerie X, Emonet S. Phylogeny of the genus arenavirus. Curr Opin Microbiol. 2017; 11(4): 362-368.
29. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases (NCEZID), Division of High-Consequence Pathogens and Pathology (DHCPP), Viral Special Pathogens Branch VSPB 2014 https://www.cdc.gov/vhf/lassa/diagnosis/index.html-2019.pdf
30. Vieth S, Torda AE, Asper M, Schmitz H, Günther S. Sequence analysis of L RNA of Lassa virus. J Virol. 2017; 318(1): 153-168.
31. WHO. Technical Guidelines for Integrated Disease Surveillance and Response in Nigeria. 2013.
32. NCDC. Viral Haemorrhagic Fevers preparedness and response plan. Abuja; 2017.
33. McCormick JB, Webb PA, Krebs JW, Johnson KM, Smith ES. A prospective study of the epidemiology and ecology of Lassa fever. J Infect Dis. 2017; 155(3): 437-444.
34. WHO. Infection prevention and control: Guidance for care of patients with suspected or confirmed Filovirus Haemorrhagic Fever in health- care settings, with focus on Ebola. 2014.
35. Haas WH, Breuer T, Pfaff G, Schmitz H, Kohler P, Asper M. Imported Lassa fever in Germany: Surveillance and management of contact persons. Clin Infect Dis. 2003; 36: 1254-1257.
36. Warner BND, Safronetz DRS. Current research for a vaccine against Lassa hemorrhagic fever virus. Drug Des Develop Ther. 2018; 12: 2519-2527.
37. Tomori O, Fabiyi A, Sorungbe A, Smith A, McCormick JB. Viral hemorrhagic fever antibodies in Nigerian populations. Am J Tropic Med Hyg. 1988; 38: 407-410.
38. Tobin EA, Asogun D, Akpede N, Adomeh D, Odia I, Gunther S. Lassa fever in Nigeria: Insights into seroprevalence and risk factors in rural Edo State: A pilot study. J Med Tropics. 2015; 17(2): 51-55.
Published
2019-07-18
How to Cite
(1)
Amodu, S.; Fapohunda, S. Lassa Fever and the Nigerian Experience: A Review. European Journal of Biological Research 2019, 9, 155-164.
Section
Review Articles
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
