Sierra Leone ‘vigilant’ over Lassa Fever – official

By Kemo Cham

APA-Freetown (Sierra Leone) Sierra Leone is vigilantly monitoring development around Lassa Fever, the viral hemorrhagic disease that is currently ravaging Nigeria, an official has said.

Sierra Leone’s eastern region, where the Lassa Fever Virus (LFV) is believed to have been first discovered, is endemic to the disease.

As of the last three months, the Ministry of Health and Sanitation (MoHS) has recorded eight cases this year.

Harold Thomas, Communications Pilar Lead, Public Health National Emergency Operations Center (PHNEOC) at the MoHs, said even though part of the country is endemic to the virus, it is yet to record cases at epidemic levels. He told APA that the Ministry of Health however remains vigilant regardless, and that it is prepared both in terms of the ability to detect, treat and prevent the spread of the virus.

“Lassa Fever is one of the reportable diseases in Sierra Leone. And immediately when there is a case, health authorities are informed,” Mr Thomas explained in an interview.

Lassa Fever is one of a family of dreadful hemorrhagic fever viruses, which also include the deadly Ebola Virus, common to Africa.

The West Africa region is still recovering from the worst Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) epidemic in history between 2014 and 2016, which killed nearly 12, 000 people mainly in the three neighboring countries of Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.

Cases and deaths from that epidemic were reported in as far as Nigeria. That is why an ongoing epidemic of the Lassa Fever Disease (LFD) in Nigeria has raised concern in the region.

As of March one, Nigerian authorities reported over 400 cases this year alone, with at least 40 deaths.

Last week Liberia, which shares border with Sierra Leone, reported the deaths of three people to the disease. That brought to 12 the fatalities from 28 cases recorded nationwide since the beginning of January, when a patient suspected to have crossed over from neighboring Guinea was admitted in a hospital in Nimba County, outside the capital, Monrovia. This was same way the Ebola virus spread from Guinea, to Liberia and then into Sierra Leone in 2014.

The virus that causes LFD was first discovered in Sierra Leone, when it was known as Panguma Fever, after the village it was detected in. But it wasn’t when a case was later reported in a Nigerian village called Lassa that it was recorded officially and assumed its current named.

Even though LFD has for a long time been prevalent in the east of Sierra Leone, recent statistics reveal a shift in the epidemiological pattern so that cases have been recorded in the north and south of the country, in districts like Tonkolili, Bombabli, Bonthe and Bo.

Unlike EVD, which is contracted from bats and non-human primates, LFD is contracted through the multiple breasted rat called Mastomys natalensis, which are the intermediate host. These rodents, said Thomas, have been spotted in some of these northern and southern districts, a situation he attributed to trade and travel links.

According to the Health ministry, this year have seen the lowest recorded cases of Lassa Fever cases in many years. Between January and March, eight positive cases were recorded, figures show. Seven of them were from Kenema and one from Bo.

In Bo, which is the most recent incident, 70 contacts were traced and subjected to medical surveillance, which lasts for the 21-day incubation period of the virus.

Most recently, nine suspected cases were recorded - seven in Kenema and two in the Western Area Urban [Freetown and environs]. But tests on all of those came back negative for Lassa Fever, although the patients exhibited symptoms of a hemorrhagic fever disease.

LFD and EVD cases exhibit similar symptoms of fever, weakness, headache, nausea, and diarrhea, among others. But Ebola is more contagious and fatal.

Unlike EVD, LFD patients can be treated, with an anti-viral drug called ribavirin. But experts say the chance of recovery increases with timely medical attention.

But like Ebola, Lassa fever can be spread through contact with the bodily fluids of infected people. Humans also can contract it from food contaminated by the urine or feces of the vector rodents.

After starting as a fever with aches and pains it can progress to headache, vomiting and diarrhea. According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), severe cases can lead to victims bleeding from the mouth and nose.

Presently there is no approved vaccine for Lassa fever.

The Sierra Leone Health ministry runs a Lassa Fever Unit in Kenema, the regional headquarters of the eastern region, which is home to a world class laboratory designed to test for the virus. The lab, which is rated by WHO as a center of excellence, receives specimens from other parts of the sub region for test.