Man infected with Lassa fever in Liberia dies in US

The Punch - Nigeria

More than seven months after Thomas Eric Duncan, the first case of the Ebola Virus Disease, diagnosed in the United States, died, a man, who has just returned from Liberia to the US, has died of Lassa fever.
Lassa fever is an acute viral haemorrhagic illness with similar symptoms to the EVD.
According to the World Health Organisation, the fever usually occurs in West Africa, and is transmitted to human through contact with food or items contaminated with rodents’ urine or faeces.
The deceased, whose name and nationality has yet to be made public by US authorities, was said to have arrived in the US from Liberia on May 17.
According to the Director, US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, Tom Frieden, the man, who checked into two hospitals, developed multiple organ failure hours after his arrival and eventually died in New Jersey on Monday.
While Frieden said Lassa fever could not be contracted by casual contact and is not as fatal as the EVD, he admitted that officials were already tracking and monitoring people who came in contact with the deceased.
“We expect to see Lassa fever and other infections like this. Because of Ebola, we’re now better prepared to deal with it,” said Frieden.
WHO says the case fatality of Lassa fever is about one per cent, although 80 per cent of the patients do not show symptoms.
The last outbreak of the fever in Nigeria occurred in 2012 when 623 suspected cases and 70 deaths in 19 states were recorded.