Imported case of Lassa fever in Sweden, ex West Africa

[alert]

http://hisz.rsoe.hu/alertmap/woalert_read.php?edis=EH-20110309-29819-SWE

http://www.thelocal.se/32470/20110308/

Sweden treats first case of deadly Lassa fever
Published: 8 Mar 11 15:38 CET | Double click on a word to get a translation
Online: http://www.thelocal.se/32470/20110308/

Share11 A Swedish woman is being treated at the intensive care unit of Link?ping University hospital in eastern Sweden after being diagnosed with the deadly disease Lassa fever.


The woman was infected in West Africa where she has been working for a humanitarian aid organization. She is the first patient ever to be treated for Lassa fever in Sweden.

The woman?s condition is stable but she will remain isolated for another few weeks, according to infectious disease specialist Britt ?kerlind.

The woman, who is in her thirties, was flown home on a medical transport flight and arrived in Sweden on Monday morning.

?She tested positive for the disease in Africa. We have since conducted some tests here, but the results are not in yet. We are treating this as a serious illness,? ?kerlind told news agency TT.

The symptoms of Lassa fever, which infects between 300,000 and 500,000 people annually, include a high temperature and internal haemorrhaging, but the majority of those that contract the disease make a full recovery.

?Only about one percent of those infected become seriously ill, and it is impossible to know in advance who will be affected worse than others,? ?kerlind told TT.

Rodents are often carriers of Lassa fever and the disease is spread through contact with their faeces.

Between humans the disease is passed through the exchange of bodily fluids. How the Swedish woman has caught the disease is unknown.

According to ?kerlind there is no risk that Lassa fever, which claims around 5,000 lives annually, will spread in Sweden.

?There is no threat to the public whatsoever,? she told TT.

[alert]

Re: Imported case of Lassa fever in Sweden, ex West Africa

http://www.promedmail.org/pls/apex/f?p=2400:1001:3074452129335746::::F2400_P1001_BACK_PAGE,F2400_P1001_ARCHIVE_NUMBER,F2400_P1001_USE_ARCHIVE:1001,20110309.0766,Y

Archive Number 20110309.0766
Published Date 09-MAR-2011
Subject PRO/AH/EDR> Lassa fever, imported - Sweden: (LG) ex West Africa

LASSA FEVER, IMPORTED - SWEDEN: (LINKOPING) ex WEST AFRICA
************************************************** ********
A ProMED-mail post
<http://www.promedmail.org>
ProMED-mail is a program of the
International Society for Infectious Diseases
<http://www.isid.org>

Date: Tue 8 Mar 2011
Source: The Local (Swedish News in English) [edited]
<http://www.thelocal.se/32470/20110308/>


A Swedish woman is being treated at the intensive care unit of
Linkoping University Hospital in eastern Sweden after being diagnosed
with the deadly disease Lassa fever. The woman was infected in West
Africa, where she had been working for a humanitarian aid
organization. She is the 1st patient ever to be treated for Lassa
fever in Sweden.

The woman's condition is stable, but she will remain isolated for
another few weeks, according to infectious disease specialist Britt
Akerlind. The woman, who is in her 30s, was flown home on a medical
transport flight and arrived in Sweden on Monday [7 Mar 2011] morning.
"She tested positive for the disease in Africa. We have since
conducted some tests here, but the results are not in yet. We are
treating this as a serious illness," Akerlind told news agency TT.

The symptoms of Lassa fever, which infects between 300 000 and 500
000 people annually, include a high temperature and internal
haemorrhaging, but the majority of those that contract the disease
make a full recovery. "Only about one per cent of those infected
become seriously ill, and it is impossible to know in advance who will
be affected worse than others," Akerlind told TT.

Rodents are often carriers of Lassa fever, and the disease is spread
through contact with their faeces. Between humans, the disease is
passed through the exchange of bodily fluids. How the Swedish woman
caught the disease is unknown.

According to Akerlind there is no risk that Lassa fever, which claims
around 5000 lives annually, will spread in Sweden.

"There is no threat to the public whatsoever," she told TT.

--
communicated by:
HealthMap alerts via ProMED-mail
<promed@promedmail.org>

[Importation of Lassa fever from West Africa into Europe and the
United States has occurred occasionally in the past. In this case, the
infection was diagnosed in West Africa (country not stated) and the
patient transferred to Linkoping University Hospital in eastern Sweden
for treatment. Linkoping is a city in southern Sweden, and the capital
of ?–stergotland County. Its location is shown in the map at:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Link%C3%B6ping>.

Lassa haemorrhagic fever is an acute illness of 1-4 weeks duration
that occurs throughout West Africa. Though 1st described in the 1950s,
the virus causing the disease was not identified until 1969. The virus
is a single-stranded RNA virus belonging to the virus family
_Arenaviridae_. Lassa fever is known to be endemic in Guinea, Liberia,
Sierra Leone and parts of Nigeria but probably exists in other West
African countries as well. About 80 per cent of human infections are
asymptomatic; the remaining cases have severe multisystem disease,
where the virus affects several organs in the body, such as the liver,
spleen, and kidneys. The incubation period of Lassa fever ranges from
6-21 days.

Lassa fever is a zoonotic disease. The animal reservoir of Lassa
virus is a rodent of the genus _Mastomys_, commonly known as the
"multimammate rat." _Mastomys_ infected with Lassa virus do not become
ill, but they can shed the virus in their urine and faeces. (An image
of a multimammate rat can be viewed at
<http://www15.bni-hamburg.de/bni/bni2/neu2/getfile.acgi?area=forschunggruppen&pid=21232>).

Lassa fever can affect all age groups. Persons at greatest risk are
those living in rural areas where _Mastomys_ are usually found,
especially in areas of poor sanitation or crowded living conditions.
There is no epidemiological evidence supporting airborne spread
between humans, but person-to-person transmission occurs in both
community and health care settings. - Mod.CP]


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Archive Number 20110310.0778
Published Date 10-MAR-2011
Subject PRO> Lassa fever, imported - Sweden (02): (LG) background

LASSA FEVER, IMPORTED - SWEDEN (02): (LINKOPING) BACKGROUND
************************************************** *********
A ProMED-mail post
<http://www.promedmail.org>
ProMED-mail is a program of the
International Society for Infectious Diseases
<http://www.isid.org>

Date: Thu 10 Mar 2011
SOURCE: GIDEON (Global Infectious Disease & Epidemiology Network)
[edited]
<http://www.gideononline.com/>


[re: ProMED-mail Lassa fever, imported - Sweden: (LG) ex West Africa
20110309.0766]
----------------------------------------------------------------------
The following background data on Lassa fever among travelers and
expatriates have been abstracted from the Gideon e-book series. [1].

A total of 12 cases of Lassa fever were imported into Europe and
North America during 1970 to 2000, with no secondary cases among
medical staff or patients.
- 4 cases were imported into Europe in 2000;
- 6 cases were imported into the UK during 1976 to 2003, none
resulting in secondary cases.

Chronology
----------
1969 - the 1st reported case of Lassa fever was that of an American
nurse working in Lassa, Nigeria.
1971 - a nurse and physician from UK developed nonfatal Lassa fever
in Sierra Leone.
1972 - a nurse from UK developed nonfatal Lassa fever in Sierra
Leone.
1974 - a German physician contracted Lassa fever (nonfatal) in
Nigeria.
1975 - an American aid worker developed nonfatal Lassa fever in
Sierra Leone.
1976 - a Peace Corps worker returned to the United States from Sierra
Leone with Lassa fever.
1980 - a case of Lassa fever (nonfatal) acquired in Burkina Faso was
reported in the Netherlands.
1984 - a British geologist developed nonfatal Lassa fever in Sierra
Leone.
1985 - a British nurse developed nonfatal Lassa fever in Sierra
Leone.
1987 - a case of Lassa fever (nonfatal) was reported in Israel -- an
engineer who had been in Liberia and Sierra Leone.
1987 - a traveler developed Lassa fever in 1987 after returning to
Japan.
1989 - a Canadian agricultural specialist developed Lassa fever
(nonfatal) in Nigeria.
1999 - a woman died of Lassa fever after returning to Germany from
the Ivory Coast.
2000 - a Nigerian national died of Lassa fever after transfer to
Germany for treatment.
2000 - a case of Lassa fever (fatal) from Sierra Leone was reported
in the Netherlands.
2000 - a student died of Lassa fever in Germany after traveling
through Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast, and Ghana.
2000 - a British national acquired Lassa fever in Sierra Leone, and
died while under treatment in England.
2000 to 2001 - 4 Ghanaian soldiers serving in Sierra Leone contracted
Lassa fever.
2003 - a British national acquired Lassa fever in Sierra Leone, and
was treated successfully in the UK.
2004 - a man died of Lassa fever in the United States following a
trip to Liberia and Sierra Leone.
2005 - 2 Pakistani soldiers died of Lassa fever in Liberia.
2006 - a man was hospitalized with Lassa fever in Germany, following
travel to Sierra Leone.
2008 - an outbreak (5 cases, 4 fatal) of Lujo virus (a related agent)
infection in South Africa followed hospitalization of an index patient
from Zambia.
2009 - 2 men died of Lassa fever in England -- one following travel
to Nigeria, and one following travel to Mali.
2010 - an American traveler acquired Lassa fever in Liberia; and a
South African civil engineer died of Lassa Fever in Sierra Leone.
2011 - a Swedish woman acquired Lassa fever in West Africa [described
in the ProMED-mail post referenced above. - Mod.CP].

Reference
---------
1. Berger SA. Lassa fever: Global Status, 2011. Gideon e-book
series,
<http://www.gideononline.com/ebooks/disease/lassa-fever-global-status/>

--
communicated by:
Prof Steve Berger
Geographic Medicine
Tel Aviv Medical Center
Israel
<mberger@post.tau.ac.il>

[ProMED-mail thanks Steve Berger for compiling these data. He has
indicated that the primary references are available from him directly
on request. - Mod.CP]