PATHOLOGIC AND VIROLOGIC STUDY OF FATAL LASSA FEVER IN MAN

Google Scholar
  • 1 January 1982
    • journal article
    • research article
    • Vol. 107  (3) , 349-356
Abstract
Postmortem examination of 21 virologically documented cases of Lassa fever, including 6 complete autopsies, was performed as part of a field study of community-acquired Lassa fever in Sierra Leone. The most consistently observed lesions were hepatocellular, adrenal and splenic necrosis and adrenal cytoplasmic inclusions. Neither these lesions, nor other milder and less constantly observed lesions such as myocarditis, renal tubular injury and interstitial pneumonia, appeared severe enough to explain the cause of death in Lassa fever. The CNS contained no specific lesions. Viral titrations demonstrated high viral content in liver, lung, spleen, kidney, heart, placenta and mammary gland. Clinical laboratory data included elevation of hepatic enzymes, creatine phosphokinase and blood urea nitrogen. Because of the paucity of pathologic lesions in spite of widely disseminted viral infection, further investigation of humoral inflammatory mechanisms is indicated.