Sierra Leone’s Health Ministry raises alarm over Lassa Fever re-emergence

Rodents like the rat transmit the Lassa Fever Virus

By Kemo Cham

The Ministry of Health and Sanitation in Sierra Leone has warned over the re-emergence of the deadly Lassa Fever disease in the east of the country and urged locals against practices that put them at risk.

Four people have been reported dead as a result of the disease between January and February this year. The victims were from a village called Panguma in the Lower Barbara Chiefdom in the eastern Kenema district, a region known to be endemic of the disease.

Like the deadly Ebola Virus Disease, Lassa Fever is also a haemorrhagic fever disease and victims exhibits similar symptoms of organ damage and eventually death.

Lassa is contracted via food or household items contaminated with rodent excrement. Medical authorities say the disease is in every part of the country, with the exception of the Western Area, which include the capital Freetown. But the virus is known to be endemic to the eastern region, particularly Kenema, where a world class laboratory to test for the virus has been in existence prior to the outbreak of the 2014 Ebola epidemic that ravaged West Africa.

“It is no secret that Lassa Fever is endemic in Kenema,” Dr Mohamed Vandi, District Medical Officer of Kenema, was quoted by the Awoko newspaper on Monday saying. He added that the rodents carrying the virus were being forced to relocate to towns due to the burning of farmlands by villagers.

In a text message broadcast via the telco Airtel last week, the Health Ministry urged people living in the area to properly look after their food, water, dishes and other household utensils so as to avoid contact with infected cats and rats. The ministry also urged people infected with the virus to immediately seek specialised treatment from hospitals, rather than going to traditional herbalists.

The eastern regional of Sierra Leone was the source of the country’s Ebola epidemic which first emerged in nearby Guinea in 2014. And refusal of the people to seek medical treatment was blamed for fueling the virus which ended up claiming nearly 4, 000 lives.

Between 100, 000 and 300, 000 people die of the disease annually. With an approximately 5, 000 deaths within the same period, according to figures by the US centers for Disease Prevention.