Ways to curb spread of lassa fever – Medical Women

To avoid contracting lassa fever virus, there is the compelling need to use rodent-proof containers to cover food and keep home clean always to avoid coming in contact with urine or droppings of rodents capable of spreading the disease.

This was contained in a paper presented by Welfare Secretary, Medical Women Association of Nigeria, Edo State Chapter, Mrs Onwualu Shalom Onosenigbuan, and made available to newsmen.

Mrs Onosenigbuan, said mastomys rodents are the carriers of the virus and as such they should not be used as a source of food and everything should be done to avoid getting in contact with them.

The Welfare Secretary said mastomys rodents often live in and around homes and scavenge on leftover human food items or poorly stored food and as a result, direct contact transmission is common.

She was of the view that infection occurs most commonly through ingestion or inhalation and explains further that mastomys rodents shed the virus in urine, droppings and direct contact with soiled objects, eating contaminated food, or exposure to open cuts or sores.

She also clarified that
casual contact including skin-to-skin contact without exchange of body fluids does not spread lassa virus. She advises caregivers treating infected persons to use protective clothing, infection control measures and other safe methods as patients’ secretions can easily spread the disease to them.

While calling for proper education on the disease in high-risk areas like Nigeria, she says development of rapid diagnostic tests and availability of Ribavirin, the only known drug for treating the virus will go a long way to curtail the spread of the disease.

Signs and symptoms of lassa fever typically occur between one to three weeks after the patient comes into contact with the virus. Symptoms of lassa fever virus in most cases are mild undiagnosed covering about eighty percent. The mild symptoms include slight fever, general malaise, weakness, and headache.

Twenty percent of infected individuals suffer respiratory distress, vomiting, facial swelling, chest pain, low back, abdomen and bleeding in gums, eyes, or nose as well as circulatory collapse and shock. Death may occur within two weeks after symptom onset due to multi-organ failure.