CLINICAL OBSERVATIONS IN 42 PATIENTS WITH LASSA FEVER

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  • 1 January 1980
    • journal article
    • research article
    • Vol. 31  (4) , 389-398
Abstract
Under continuous observation for several months, 42 patients from the eastern province of Sierra Leone, Liberia (Lofa County), and neighboring Guinea were identified as Lassa fever cases by indirect immunofluorescent antibody technique, indicating that the disease is endemic in these areas. The clinical course varied from mild disease to severe illness with hemorrhagic disorders. The fatality rate was 14%. The occurrence of only 2 possible secondary cases suggests that person-to-person spread of the disease is unimportant epidemiologically. There was a wide range of patients'' ages, tribes and occupations, including a 2 mo. old baby and a white USA citizen. Clinical, laboratory and histopathological investigations demonstrated the panorganotropism of Lassa virus. Hematological tests in few selected hemorrhagic cases with Lassa fever did not support coagulation disorders of thrombocytopenia as causing the bleeding tendency. The histopathologic changes resemble those observed in Argentinian and Bolivian hemorrhagic fever, both caused by arenaviruses. Lassa virus hepatitis may be differentiated from liver lesions occurring in yellow fever, Marburg virus disease, and Ebola (Maridi) hemorrhagic fever.