TYPES AND CAUSES OF COMMUNICABLE DISEASES: A CASE STUDY OF LASSA FEVER AMONG THE PRIMARY SCHOOL PUPILS IN OREDO LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA OF EDO STATE
ABSTRACT
Lassa fever is endemic in west Africa, where it probably kills several thousand people each year. With access to the region improving, the opportunity, and the need, to improve our understanding of this disease are increasing. Lassa fever is a viral haemorrhagic fever transmitted by rats. It has been known since the 1950s, but the virus was not identified until 1969, when two missionary nurses died from it in the town of Lassa in Nigeria. Found predominantly in west Africa,1 it has the potential to cause tens of thousands of deaths. Even after recovery, the virus remains in body fluids, including semen The years of civil unrest in Sierra Leone (1991-2002) halted the investigation (through international collaboration) of Lassa fever at a specialist unit in Kenema. Increasing international travel and the possibility of use of the Lassa virus as a biological weapon escalate the potential for harm beyond the local level. Access to the country is improving, so renewed efforts to understand it are feasible.
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY
Lassa fever or Lassa hemorrhagic fever (LHF) is an acute viral hemorrhagic fever caused by the Lassa virus and first described in 1969 in the town of Lassa, in Borno State, Nigeria.[1] The Lassa Fever is a member of the arenaviridiae virus family. Similar to Ebola,[2] clinical cases of the disease had been known for over a decade but had not been connected with a viral pathogen. The infection is endemic in West African countries, and causes 300,000–500,000 cases annually, with approximately 5,000 deaths.[3]Outbreaks of the disease have been observed in Nigeria, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Guinea, and the Central African Republic, but it is believed that human infections also exist in Democratic Republic of the Congo, Mali, and Senegal. The primary animal host of the Lassa virus is the Natal Multimammate Mouse (Mastomys natalensis), an animal indigenous to most of Sub-Saharan Africa.[4] The virus is probably transmitted by contact with the feces or urine of animals accessing grain stores in residences. (Garrett, Laurie, 2001). Given its high rate of incidence, lassa fever has become a major problem in the African region. Nadezhda E. Yun and David H. Walker (1999) carried out a research on the origin on the Lassa fever. Dr. Ross Donaldson accounts his experience with Lassa fever in his book, The Lassa Ward.
