CDC confirms American patient diagnosed with Lassa fever

A CDC representative confirmed to Infectious Disease News that an American patient being treated at Emory University Hospital has been diagnosed with Lassa fever.

The patient is an American physician assistant who was infected while working for a missionary organization in Togo, West Africa, according to a statement from Emory. The patient is being treated in an isolation unit within the hospital where four Ebola patients were successfully treated in 2014.

Lassa is an acute viral infection that infects 100,000 to 300,000 people each year, according to Emory. It is primarily spread to people through direct contact or inhalation of urine or fecal matter of an infected rat; however, Lassa fever also can be transmitted by consuming contaminated food or being exposed to the virus via open cuts or sores, according to the CDC.

Symptoms of Lassa fever can be similar to those of Ebola, but it is less likely to be transmitted through person-to-person contact, the statement said. Moreover, Lassa fever is associated with a significantly lower mortality rate, with death occurring in 10% to 20% of hospitalized patients vs. 70% of Ebola patients.

Few cases of Lassa fever have been reported in the United States, according to the CDC. The last confirmed case occurred in a U.S. traveler returning from Liberia who died in New Jersey from the infection in May 2015.

“Lassa fever is a viral disease common in West Africa but rarely seen in the United States,” a CDC press release said. “There has never been person-to-person transmission of Lassa fever documented in the United States.”