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BIO4107SEMINAR PRESENTATION

ON THE TOPIC LASSA FEVER

BYILIYA DANIEL MAIGWA

DEPARTMENT: BIOLOGICAL SCIENCE

MATRICULATION NO.: FUK/SCI/12B/BIO/1045  

F. U.KFEDERAL UNIVERSITY, KASHERE

EDUCATION FOR GLOBAL CITIZENSHIP

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PRESENTATION OVERVIEW

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1. INTRODUCTION2. TRANSMISSION3. ETIOLOGY4. DISTRIBUTION/EPIDEMIOLOGY5. SYMPTOMS6. DIAGNOSIS 7. PREVENTIONS8. TREATMENT9. RECOMMENDATIONS 10.CONCLUSION11.REFERENCES

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INTRODUCTION.

Lassa fever is a an acute viral haemorrhagic illness

that occurs in West Africa.

The illness was discovered in 1969 when two

missionary nurses died in Lassa town of Maiduguri

in Nigeria.

The virus is named after the town in which the first

cases occurred. (Frame J,1992).

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INTRODUCTION.

Lassa fever is cause by Lassa virus.

It belongs to the member of the virus family

Arenaviridae.

Lassa virus is zoonotic meaning humans become infected

from contact with infected animals, transmission involves

the reservoir host, (Mastomys natalensis). (WHO, 2016).

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TRANSMISSION

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According to (WHO, 2016). Lassa virus is transmitted to human through :-1. Contact with food or house hold items contaminated

with infected rodent urine and faeces.

2. Person-to-person transmission may occur after exposure to blood, tissue, secretions, or excretions of individual infected with Lassa virus.

TRANSMISSION

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3. Transplacental i.e. mother to child infection

4. Sexual transmission5. Aerosol or airborne transmission may

occur during cleaning activities, such as sweeping.

6.Laboratory transmission can also occur.

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ETIOLOGY.

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• Lassa fever is caused by the Lassa virus, a member of the family

Arenaviridae.

• It is an enveloped, single-stranded, bi-segmented RNA virus.

• The virions exhibit Pleomorphic morphology when examined by

electron microscope.

• The surface of the virion envelope is studded with glycoprotein

projections. (Speir et al., 1970).

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LASSA VIRUS.

LASSA FEVER KILLS (Biofemgroup, 2016)

KEYSG1- Glycoprotein 1G2- Glycoprotein 2S - SmallL - Large

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Distribution/Epidemiology

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Lassa fever is distributed in some West African countries such as Nigeria, Burkina Faso, Benin, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Guinea, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Mali and Togo.

It is estimated that (300,000 – 500,000) persons get infected and approximately 5,000 dies every year in West Africa. (WHO, 2016).

The behavior, ecology and biology of the reservoir host(Mastomys natalensis) is of great Epidemiological effect.

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Distribution of Lassa Fever in West Africa (CDC 2014)

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symptoms of lassa fever

LASSA FEVER KILLS (Biofemgroup, 2016)

The role of the

Sensorineural Hearing Loss

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DIAGNOSIS

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Lassa virus infections can only be diagnosed definitively in the

laboratory (WHO, 2016). using the following tests :-

I. Antibody enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA)

II. Antigen detection tests.

III. Reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-

PCR) assay

IV. Virus isolation by cell culture.

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SANDY-APPEARING GRANULES OF LASSA VIRUS

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("Arena" is the Latin root meaning sand) Figure Virus isolation by cell culture (Wikipedia, 2016)

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PREVENTION

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1.Village – based programs for rodent control and avoidance

2. Safe food storage3. Wet down surface before sweeping4. Hospital training programs to avoid nosocomial spread:

nursing manual.

Prevention is the best vaccination against Lassa virus. This is because vaccination has not yet been discovered (CDC, 2014).

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TREATMENT

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. Where prevention is too late, the antiviral

drugs name Ribavirin can effectively be use

to treatment Lassa fever.(WHO, 2015)

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RECOMMENDATIONS

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Awareness (campaigns) and advocacy on clean and safe

environment to promote prevention especially within the endemic

areas are necessary.

Abrogation of practices that might enhance contact with the

Lassa virus should be encouraged.

Serviceable diagnostic and treatment centers for Lassa fever

within the West African sub-region and beyond should be set up

to enhance prompt therapy and containment of the illness.

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CONCLUSION

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Haven seen what Lassa virus is, I will like to conclude by encouraging you to :- 1. Promotes good “community hygiene” which in turns will

discourage rodents from entering homes.2. Store grains and other foodstuffs in rodent-proof containers3. Employ biological control measures to reduced rat e.g using

cats.4. In health care setting, the interest of patient should be taken

above all, but specimen from suspected lassa patient be considered dangerous.

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REFERENCES

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Biofemgroup.(2016).http://www.bellanaija.com/wp-content/uploads/Biofem-group Lassa-Fever.jpg

Center For Disease Control (2014). Update on Lassa Fever distribution map http://www.CDC.int/media factsheets/fs223/en

Frame. J, (1992). The story of Lassa fever. Part I: Discovering the disease. New York State Journal of Medicine. 5: 199-202.

Ryan Cordell (2014)The Molecular Biology & General Background of the Lassa Virus.1-22

Speir R, Wood O, Liebhaber H, (1970). Lassa fever, a new virus disease of man from West Africa. IV. Electron microscopy of Vero cell cultures infected with Lassa virus. American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene. 19:4-692.

Wikipedia (2016). Lassa Fever https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lassa fever.World Health Organization. (WHO 2015). Update on Lassa fever in West Africa.

Weekly Epidemiology Record. 10:80-86.World Health Organization. (2016). Update on Lassa fever fact sheet.

http://www.who.int/media centre/factsheets/fs179/en/

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b THANK YOU FOR LISTENING

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VThe

End