Wüstenschiff

LASSA FEVER - NIGERIA (04): CONTROL
***********************************
A ProMED-mail post
<http://www.promedmail.org>
ProMED-mail is a program of the
International Society for Infectious Diseases
<http://www.isid.org>

Date: Fri 6 Mar 2009
From: David Stevenson
<dsteven1@staffmail.ed.ac.uk>


Possible use of mongooses against Lassa Fever
---------------------------------------------
My uncle in Glasgow, Scotland, managed a carpet factory and warehouse.
He kept Indian mongooses loose in the buildings to kill rats in order
to protect the carpets from damage. On a visit to Sierra Leone, some
years ago, I discussed prevention of Lassa Fever with an official.
African mongooses live wild there, as in Nigeria. I suggested that if
people kept mongooses as pets, these would kill and eat rodents
entering their houses. I still think it is an idea worth trying. (In
fact I suggested the use of "mongeese." The official looked puzzled
and said "I do not think our monkeys are clever enough." I therefore
now use "mongooses" as the plural of "mongoose.") [That is, in fact,
etymologically correct. - Mod.JW]

--
David Stevenson, MD
Honorary Fellow, Public Health Sciences
University of Edinburgh Medical School
Teviot Place
Edinburgh EH8 1AG
Scotland

[Dr Stevenson's suggestion deserves consideration. ProMED-mail would
be interested to record the experiences of anyone resident in West
Africa willing to follow up this practical suggestion. - Mod.CP]

[Article with photo & map of pan-Adrican range of the Egyptian mongoose:
<http://itech.pjc.edu/sctag/Emongoose/mongoose.htm>
- Mod.JW]

LASSA FEVER - NIGERIA (06 )
**************************
A ProMED-mail post
<http://www.promedmail.org>
ProMED-mail is a program of the
International Society for Infectious Diseases
<http://www.isid.org>

[1] Control
[2] Geographical extent

******
[1] Control
Date: Mon 9 Mar 2009
From: Daniel Bausch <dbausch@tulane.edu>


Re: ProMED-mail Lassa fever - Nigeria (04): control 20090306.0937
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Various programs in eastern Sierra Leone, where Lassa fever is
hyperendemic, have recommended (and sometimes supplied) cats as a
control measure. Cats would seem easier to acquire and maintain as
domestic pets than [mongooses]. It is a logical step (and there is no
evidence that cats or mongooses carry or transmit Lassa virus -- a
question that often comes up), but has never been objectively evaluated.

--
Daniel G Bausch, MD, MPH&TM
Associate Professor
Director, Tulane Lassa Fever Research Program in West Africa
Department of Tropical Medicine, SL-17
J Bennet Johnston Building, Rm 511
Tulane School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine
1430 Tulane Ave
New Orleans LA 70112
USA
<dbausch@tulane.edu>

******
[2] Geographical extent
Date: Mon 23 Feb 2009
Source: UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs
(OCHA), ReliefWeb, WHO report [edited]
<http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/db9 ... enDocument>


Africa weekly emergency situation update vol. 2, no. 8
------------------------------------------------------
Nigeria: outbreak of Lassa fever confirmed in Ondo and Edo States, 7
cases with 2 deaths reported (CFR: 28.5 percent).

--
Communicated by:
ProMED-mail Rapporteur A-Lan Banks

[ProMED-mail thanks A-Lan Banks for responding to the moderator's
request for information identifying those Nigerian states in addition
to the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) where Lassa fever has been
reported. The states of Ondo and Edo lie to the southwest of the FCT
and Nasarawa, but are not contiguous with them.

These states can be located on the administrative map of Nigeria at
<http://www.cladiya.com/07MNIAsite/image ... p-prov.gif> - Mod.CP]

LASSA FEVER, PREDICTIVE MAPS - WEST AFRICA
******************************************
A ProMED-mail post
<http://www.promedmail.org>
ProMED-mail is a program of the
International Society for Infectious Diseases
<http://www.isid.org>

Date: Tue 28 Apr 2009
From: Elisabeth Fichet-Calvet, PhD and David J. Rogers, PhD


We were struck by the remarks of the ProMED moderator following the
report of Lassa fever cases originating in Nigeria but treated in
both the UK (a returning UK national) and South Africa (a Nigerian
medical doctor, presumed to have been treating Lassa fever patients
from around Abuj-a, [see: Lassa fever - South Africa ex Nigeria
20090425.1554. Please note that this report actually referred to an
incident that occurred in 2007 and has since been corrected in report
20090428.1603], although one wonders in this case why the paramedics,
pilot and 2 co-pilots -- now placed under quarantine -- who flew him
from Nigeria were not adequately protected against risk of infection
during their flight to South Africa). The ProMED Moderator commented:
"the Lassa fever outbreaks provide a unique opportunity for teams of
health professions to work together to understand the epidemiology of
Lassa fever better when outbreaks occur.

"We have recently made predictive risk maps of Lassa Fever in West
Africa using all available information on the location of past human
cases, serological surveys of rodents, and environmental data derived
from both satellites and ground-based measures of climate. (See:
<http://www.plosntds.org/article/info%3A ... 95CF9E71CB>).

The disease occurs within high rainfall areas of West Africa, a
subset of the very much wider environmental range of its multimammate
rat host, _Mastomys natalensis_, which extends into many biotic zones
in West, Central, Eastern and Southern Africa. Maps in the
publication may be used to identify high risk areas within which
especial care should be taken to avoid contact with rats, their urine
and faeces. Travellers expecting to visit countries from which Lassa
fever has been reported could also be given more precise information
about high risk zones within those countries. Such risk maps can be
produced from records of past outbreaks without necessarily fully
understanding the epidemiology of the disease in question. The past
is a useful, though never perfect, guide to the future. Our eventual
aim, however, is to translate the statistical analyses involved in
risk map production into a fuller biological understanding of
crucial, limiting environmental variables that should inform future
epidemiological studies.

Risk maps of the sort we have produced will be much improved by
adding precise geographical locations of past and new disease
outbreaks, and we encourage much clearer identification and reporting
of the locations where infection is most likely to have taken place.

Lassa fever was in fact 1st described from NorthEast Nigeria, but
very few data-points in our database came from Nigeria because of a
lack of clear reporting of past cases from that country. Controlling
diseases certainly involves teamwork of nurses, medics and
clinicians, as these reports of Lassa outbreaks have shown. Such
teams are used to working together. However, understanding diseases
involves cross-disciplinary teams (medics, biologists, geographers,
sociologists, etc.) which do not necessarily 'self-assemble'
themselves in quite the same way, and thus may require new
initiatives from those involved in national and global health.

--
Elisabeth Fichet-Calvet, PhD
Evolutionary Biology Group, Universiteit Antwerpen
Groenenborgerlaan 171, B-2020 Antwerpen, Belgium
<Elisabeth.Fichet-Calvet@ua.ac.be>
<ecalvet@club-internet.fr>
and,
David J. Rogers, PhD
Professor of Ecology,
Oxford University,
TALA Research Group,
Dept. of Zoology,
South Parks Rd.,
Oxford OX1 3PS, UK.
<david.rogers@zoo.ox.ac.uk>

[Pro-MED-mail welcomes this opportunity to draw attention to the work
of Drs Fichet-Calvet and Rogers, which has resulted in the production
of Lassa fever risk maps. These maps indicate the strong influence of
rainfall, and a lesser influence of temperature in defining high risk
areas. The area of greatest risk is located between Guinea and
Cameroon. - Mod.CP]

LASSA FEVER, IMPORTED - SWEDEN (02): (LINKOPING) BACKGROUND
***********************************************************
A ProMED-mail post
<http://www.promedmail.org>
ProMED-mail is a program of the
International Society for Infectious Diseases
<http://www.isid.org>

Date: Thu 10 Mar 2011
SOURCE: GIDEON (Global Infectious Disease & Epidemiology Network)
[edited]
<http://www.gideononline.com/>


[re: ProMED-mail Lassa fever, imported - Sweden: (LG) ex West Africa
20110309.0766]
----------------------------------------------------------------------
The following background data on Lassa fever among travelers and
expatriates have been abstracted from the Gideon e-book series. [1].

A total of 12 cases of Lassa fever were imported into Europe and
North America during 1970 to 2000, with no secondary cases among
medical staff or patients.
- 4 cases were imported into Europe in 2000;
- 6 cases were imported into the UK during 1976 to 2003, none
resulting in secondary cases.

Chronology
----------
1969 - the 1st reported case of Lassa fever was that of an American
nurse working in Lassa, Nigeria.
1971 - a nurse and physician from UK developed nonfatal Lassa fever
in Sierra Leone.
1972 - a nurse from UK developed nonfatal Lassa fever in Sierra
Leone.
1974 - a German physician contracted Lassa fever (nonfatal) in
Nigeria.
1975 - an American aid worker developed nonfatal Lassa fever in
Sierra Leone.
1976 - a Peace Corps worker returned to the United States from Sierra
Leone with Lassa fever.
1980 - a case of Lassa fever (nonfatal) acquired in Burkina Faso was
reported in the Netherlands.
1984 - a British geologist developed nonfatal Lassa fever in Sierra
Leone.
1985 - a British nurse developed nonfatal Lassa fever in Sierra
Leone.
1987 - a case of Lassa fever (nonfatal) was reported in Israel -- an
engineer who had been in Liberia and Sierra Leone.
1987 - a traveler developed Lassa fever in 1987 after returning to
Japan.
1989 - a Canadian agricultural specialist developed Lassa fever
(nonfatal) in Nigeria.
1999 - a woman died of Lassa fever after returning to Germany from
the Ivory Coast.
2000 - a Nigerian national died of Lassa fever after transfer to
Germany for treatment.
2000 - a case of Lassa fever (fatal) from Sierra Leone was reported
in the Netherlands.
2000 - a student died of Lassa fever in Germany after traveling
through Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast, and Ghana.
2000 - a British national acquired Lassa fever in Sierra Leone, and
died while under treatment in England.
2000 to 2001 - 4 Ghanaian soldiers serving in Sierra Leone contracted
Lassa fever.
2003 - a British national acquired Lassa fever in Sierra Leone, and
was treated successfully in the UK.
2004 - a man died of Lassa fever in the United States following a
trip to Liberia and Sierra Leone.
2005 - 2 Pakistani soldiers died of Lassa fever in Liberia.
2006 - a man was hospitalized with Lassa fever in Germany, following
travel to Sierra Leone.
2008 - an outbreak (5 cases, 4 fatal) of Lujo virus (a related agent)
infection in South Africa followed hospitalization of an index patient
from Zambia.
2009 - 2 men died of Lassa fever in England -- one following travel
to Nigeria, and one following travel to Mali.
2010 - an American traveler acquired Lassa fever in Liberia; and a
South African civil engineer died of Lassa Fever in Sierra Leone.
2011 - a Swedish woman acquired Lassa fever in West Africa [described
in the ProMED-mail post referenced above. - Mod.CP].

Reference
---------
1. Berger SA. Lassa fever: Global Status, 2011. Gideon e-book
series,
<http://www.gideononline.com/ebooks/dise ... al-status/>

--
communicated by:
Prof Steve Berger
Geographic Medicine
Tel Aviv Medical Center
Israel
<mberger@post.tau.ac.il>

[ProMED-mail thanks Steve Berger for compiling these data. He has
indicated that the primary references are available from him directly
on request. - Mod.CP]

In Westafrika sterben jedes Jahr Tausende Menschen an den Folgen einer Infizierung mit dem Lassavirus. Französische Wissenschaftler sollen nun erfolgreich einen Impfstoff getestet haben ...

Ein französisches Forscherteam um Mathieu Mateo vom Institut Pasteur in Lyon soll einen vielversprechenden Impfstoff gegen das Lassavirus entwickelt haben. An Affen testeten die Wissenschaftler laut eigenen Angaben drei Impfstoffe, von denen einer einen nahezu sterilisierenden Schutz gegen das tödliche Virus geboten haben soll. Nun soll der Impfstoff an Menschen getestet werden. Bei Erfolg könnte er laut den Wissenschaftlern erheblich dazu beitragen, die Ausbreitung des hoch ansteckenden Lassafiebers einzudämmen]

Lassafieber: Neue Studie testet Impfstoff – mit Erfolg
04.10.2019 - haz

Gruß
Birgitt