Benin says Lassa fever killled 9 in 2014 in Tanguiéta, no Ebola found - Outbreak over

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Source: http://www.wjtv.com/story/27485042/b...no-ebola-found


Benin says Lassa fever kills 9, no Ebola found

COTONOU, Benin (AP) - Nine people have died in Benin from Lassa fever, a viral disease common in West Africa with symptoms similar to Ebola, the country's health minister said.

An outbreak of Ebola is pummeling the three West African countries of Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea, and some cases have turned up elsewhere. But so far no Ebola cases have been confirmed in Benin, Health Minister Dorothee Kinde Gazard told reporters late Tuesday.

Authorities will double-check those results with more tests, said Youssouf Gamatie, the representative for the World Health Organization in the country.

The Lassa fever deaths happened in Tanguieta, 370 miles (600 kilometers) north of the capital, said Gazard. In all, 15 cases of Lassa have been detected, and Gazard said she thought the outbreak would be quickly contained. Authorities are monitoring 170 people who had contact with the sick for signs of Lassa...

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Source: http://outbreaknewstoday.com/benin-l...ed-over-80288/

Benin Lassa fever outbreak declared over
Posted by Staff on January 23, 2015

In a follow-up to a report in November, Benin?s health minister announced earlier this month that the Lassa fever outbreak was over, according to a ReliefWeb report (computer translated)...

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Conference

Abstract | Volume 8, Abstract ELIC2025463 (Oral 116) | Published: 17 Aug 2025


One epidemic can hide another: Lassa fever in northern Benin in the context of an EVD epidemic in West Africa

Roch Houngnihin^1,&, Marc Egrot², Achille Ayalé<sup>3

1</sup> Anthropologist, Laboratory of Applied Medical Anthropology, University of Abomey-Calavi, ² Anthropologist, Population Environment Development Laboratory, Research Institute for Development, ³ Research Assistant in Anthropology, Laboratory of Applied Medical Anthropology, University of Abomey-Calavi

^& Corresponding author: Roch Houngnihin, Anthropologist, Laboratory of Applied Medical Anthropology, University of Abomey-Calavi. Email : roch_houngnihin2001@yahoo.fr


Received: 20 May 2025, Accepted: 09 Jul 2025, Published: 17 Aug 2025

Domain: Infectious Disease Epidemiology

This is part of the Proceedings of the ECOWAS 2nd Lassa fever International Conference in Abidjan, September 8 – 11, 2025

Keywords : Lassa fever, suspected cases, logic of action, anthropology, Benin
^©Roch Houngnihin et al. Journal of Interventional Epidemiology and Public Health (ISSN: 2664-2824). This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution International 4.0 License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Cite this article: Roch Houngnihin et al., One epidemic can hide another: Lassa fever in northern Benin in the context of an EVD epidemic in West Africa. Journal of Interventional Epidemiology and Public Health. 2025;8(ConfProc5):00116. https://doi.org/10.37432/JIEPH-CONFPRO5-00116

Introduction

A Lassa fever epidemic occurred in October 2014 in Tanguiéta (Benin), at the same time as the entire sub-region was facing a major epidemic of Ebola virus disease (EVD). This episode was marked by the death of individuals in the population, but also of several staff members of the Tanguiéta hospital, between October 23 and November 3, 2014. This situation is indicative of a late alert to the epidemic. It is in this context that this research was initiated to analyze the practices and logic implemented by various social actors concerned.

Methods

We opted for a retrospective ethnographic approach, consisting of carrying out qualitative surveys with actors from different profiles (populations, caregivers, health and religious authorities, etc.)

Results

Despite the state of alert put in place in the context of the EVD epidemic that affected 10 countries worldwide and the semiological proximity between these two viral diseases, the Lassa fever epidemic remained invisible to the health system for several weeks. The poor knowledge of the disease by the population and caregivers (especially in terms of variable etiological imputations), social interference (especially in terms of denial of the virological model, variable perceptions of risk and diverse therapeutic recourses), the experience of the disease (especially in terms of stigmatization and avoidance behaviors) and random practices of management in hospital settings (in terms of multiple diagnoses and diversity of treatment), etc. are the major challenges that the health system has faced.

Conclusion

The study provided an account of the fragile context of healthcare systems in the context of an epidemic, despite efforts made at various levels. Vulnerabilities were observed, reflecting the need to review the approaches developed to date.

https://afenet-journal.org/une-epidemie-peut-en-cacher-une-autre-fievre-de-lassa-au-nord-benin-en-contexte-depidemie-de-mve-en-afrique-de-louest/