Health authorities in Guinea announced that they had identified a case of Lassa hemorrhagic fever, a viral disease related to Ebola, in the south of the country, in a press release.
The Lassa fever virus was detected in a 17-year-old patient “coming from the sub-prefecture of Kassadou”, in the prefecture of Guéckédou (south), where the epidemic was declared, indicated the ministry of Health in a press release published Friday evening.
The patient is being treated in a care center in Guéckédou, in the Nzérékoré region, and “her condition is currently satisfactory”, according to this press release.
The virus was identified on April 20 by a laboratory in Guéckédou and “a second test carried out at the reference laboratory in Conakry confirmed the first result”, specifies the text.
An investigation is underway in the villages concerned “to identify all contacts and their follow-up. For the moment, no other case has been notified”.
Lassa hemorrhagic fever belongs to the same family as the Ebola and Marburg viruses, but is much less rapid.
Lassa fever is transmitted through rodent excretions or direct contact with blood, urine, stool or other body fluids of a sick person. Once declared, this fever can cause bleeding in the most severe cases (about one in five cases).
The virus takes its name from the town of Lassa in the north of the country, where it was first identified in 1969.