Lassa fever and COVID-19 in Africa: A double crisis

 

• A recent article in the Journal of Medical Virology discusses the dual impact of Lassa fever and COVID-19 in Africa.
• The authors say that the emergence of COVID-19 has directed resources away from other infectious diseases, including Lassa fever.
• To contain the disease, they recommend a mix of public hygiene information, enhanced research, and the development of treatments and vaccines.

Lassa feverTrusted Source is an infectious disease transmitted from rodents to humans. ApproximatelyTrusted Source 2 million people get Lassa fever each year, resulting in 5,000–10,000 deaths. The disease is endemicTrusted Source in West African countries, such as Guinea, Liberia, Nigeria, and Sierra Leone.

One of the major challenges when diagnosing the disease is the similarity of its symptomsTrusted Source, including sore throat, joint pains, and weakness, with many other diseases, such as dengue and typhoid fever.

Because of this, the condition is commonly under- and misdiagnosed.

The emergence of COVID-19 has further aggravated the identification and treatment of the condition due to the extra burden placed on public health systems around the worldTrusted Source.

Earlier this year, an international team of researchers published an article highlighting the situation of Lassa fever in Africa following COVID-19, alongside public health strategies to contain it.

“Lassa fever is endemic to West Africa, “ Matt Price, Ph.D., told Medical News Today. Dr. Price is director of epidemiology at the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI) and assistant clinical professor of epidemiology and biostatistics at the University of California San Francisco (UCSF). He was not involved in the article.

“However, reporting on the disease in the past has not been systematic, and our understanding of the epidemiology is incomplete. In recent years, Nigeria has been the epicenter for annual outbreaks of the disease, with case numbers peaking in 2020,” he added.

“Active disease surveillance is ongoing in Nigeria, and large, population-based epidemiology studies are underway in Sierra Leone, Guinea, Liberia, and Benin. This work will help us get a better understanding of the epidemiology of Lassa fever, “ he explained.

The article appears in the Journal of Medical VirologyTrusted Source.

High fatality ratio

Currently, early diagnosis of Lassa fever is key for effective treatment. Doctors recommend Ribavirin, an antiviral medication, within the first 6 days of contracting the virus. If left untreated, the disease can lead to:

• swollen airways
• abdominal pains
• diarrhea
• vomiting
• respiratory symptoms
• loss of hearing
• acute hemorrhagic fever
• multiple organ failure
• death

After the declaration that COVID-19 was a pandemic, medical resources were directed towards COVID-19, leading to compromised care for infectious diseases with higher fatality ratiosTrusted Source, such as Lassa fever.

“Amid epidemiological Week 9 of 2020, when the first affirmed case of COVID‐19 was recorded in Nigeria, there was an increase in the number of affirmed [Lassa fever] cases,” write the researchers.

“Indeed, with steady care and treatment with ribavirin, case fatalities were still as high as 24%–33% in tertiary clinic settings […] whereas almost 13.5% of survivors [had] sensorineural hearing loss. Also, [Lassa fever] accounts for almost 22% of hospital maternal mortality in endemic ranges,” they add.

Source: Medical News Today