Atlanta: The CDC and the New Jersey Department of Health have confirmed a
death from Lassa fever which was diagnosed earlier today in a person
returning to the United States from Liberia. The patient traveled from
Liberia to Morocco to JFK International Airport on May 17th. The patient
did not have a fever on departure from Liberia, did not report symptoms
such as diarrhea, vomiting, or bleeding during the flight, and his
temperature was taken on arrival in the U.S. and he did not have a fever
at that time. On May 18th, the patient went to a hospital in New Jersey
with symptoms of a sore throat, fever and tiredness.
According to the
hospital, he was asked on the 18th about his travel history and he did
not indicate travel to West Africa. The patient was sent home the same
day and on May 21st returned to the hospital when symptoms worsened. The
patient was transferred to a second hospital prepared to treat viral
hemorrhagic fevers. Samples submitted to CDC tested positive for Lassa
fever early this morning. Tests for Ebola and other viral hemorrhagic
fevers were negative. The patient was in appropriate isolation when he
died there this evening.
Lassa fever is a viral disease common in
West Africa but rarely seen in the United States. There has never been
person-to-person transmission of Lassa fever documented in the United
States. The New Jersey case is the sixth known occurrence of Lassa fever
in travelers returning to the United States since 1969, not including
convalescent patients. The last case was reported in Minnesota in 2014.
Although Lassa fever can produce hemorrhagic symptoms in infected
people, the disease is different from Ebola, which is responsible for
the current outbreak in West Africa. In general, Lassa fever is less
likely to be fatal than Ebola (approximately 1% case fatality rate for
Lassa vs approximately 70% case fatality rate for Ebola without
treatment) and less likely to be spread from person to person. However,
some Lassa patients develop severe disease, as the patient in New Jersey
did.
In West Africa, Lassa virus is carried by rodents and
transmitted to humans through contact with urine or droppings of
infected rodents. In rare cases it can be transmitted from person to
person through direct contact with a sick person's blood or bodily
fluids, through mucous membrane, or through sexual contact. The virus is
not transmitted through casual contact, and patients are not believed
to be infectious before the onset of symptoms. About 100,000 to 300,000
cases of Lassa fever, and 5,000 deaths related to Lassa fever, occur in
West Africa each year.
CDC is working with public health officials
to generate a list of people who had contact with the patient. Those
identified as close contacts of the patient will be monitored for 21
days to see if symptoms occur.
Updates will be provided as the investigation continues.
For additional information about Lassa fever see the CDC website at http://www.cdc.gov/vhf/lassa.