LASSA FEVER
Lassa fever, also known as Lassa Hemorrhagic
Fever (LHF) is a zoonotic disease, caused by Lassa virus; that is, an
animal-borne disease, which implies that transmission is from animal to human.
The animal known to be carrier of the dreadful disease is the mouse, a
different breed known as Natal Multimammate mouse (Mastomys natalensis)
The virus was firstly discovered and described in 1969
from a town called Lassa in Borno State, Nigeria. Lassa fever is a disease
common in West Africa in which Nigeria is included, amongst Liberia, Sierra
Leone, Guinea and Ghana.
How do you contract Lassa fever?
As earlier mentioned, Lassa virus is hosted in multimammate
mouse. Multimammate mouse, from its name is a type of mouse with multiple
mammary glands.
Human gets infected with the virus via contact with
urine, feaces and contact with salivary fluid from infected mouse.
Symptoms
The signs usually observed when one is infected are;
fever, severe headache, vomiting, muscle pain and sometimes in severe cases,
but less commonly are bleeding from mouth and gastrointestinal tract and
deafness.
How to prevent
As it well known, up until now, there is no known
cure, treatment or vaccine that has been provided to eradicate Lassa fever.
Therefore, it is imperative to take preventive measures.
Preventing Lassa fever is as easy as simply avoiding
contacts with rat by every means. This can only be possible by;
1. Proper disposal of used food packs
and disposable items to avoid rats from reaching these items.
2. Keeping our kitchen clean by
washing our plates and pots immediately after use, because rats are always
after left-over in the kitchen.
3. Keeping our food stuffs in
rodent-proof containers and not in sacs. This will safeguard our food from
contamination.
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