US - Lassa Fever Confirmed in Death of U.S. Traveler Returning from Liberia - May 25, 2015

[sharon sanders]

From: "Media@cdc.gov (CDC)" <sohco@CDC.GOV>
To: MMWR-MEDIA@LISTSERV.CDC.GOV
Subject: CDC Press Release: Lassa Fever Confirmed in Death of U.S. Traveler Returning from Liberia
Date: May 25, 2015 10:46 PM

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[TD] Press Release

For Immediate Release
Monday, May 25, 2015

Contact: CDC Media Relations
(404) 639-3286


Lassa Fever Confirmed in Death of U.S. Traveler Returning from Liberia
Risk to others considered extremely low

The CDC and the New Jersey Department of Health have confirmed a death from Lassa fever which was diagnosed earlier today in a person returning to the United States from Liberia. The patient traveled from Liberia to Morocco to JFK International Airport on May 17[SUP]th[/SUP]. The patient did not have a fever on departure from Liberia, did not report symptoms such as diarrhea, vomiting, or bleeding during the flight, and his temperature was taken on arrival in the U.S. and he did not have a fever at that time. On May 18[SUP]th[/SUP], the patient went to a hospital in New Jersey with symptoms of a sore throat, fever and tiredness. According to the hospital, he was asked on the 18[SUP]th[/SUP] about his travel history and he did not indicate travel to West Africa. The patient was sent home the same day and on May 21[SUP]st[/SUP] returned to the hospital when symptoms worsened. The patient was transferred to a treatment center prepared to treat viral hemorrhagic fevers. Samples submitted to CDC tested positive for Lassa fever early this morning. Tests for Ebola and other viral hemorrhagic fevers were negative. The patient was in appropriate isolation when he died there this evening.

Lassa fever is a viral disease common in West Africa but rarely seen in the United States. There has never been person-to-person transmission of Lassa fever documented in the United States. The New Jersey case is the sixth known occurrence of Lassa fever in travelers returning to the United States since 1969, not including convalescent patients. The last case was reported in Minnesota in 2014. Although Lassa fever can produce hemorrhagic symptoms in infected people, the disease is different from Ebola, which is responsible for the current outbreak in West Africa. In general, Lassa fever is less likely to be fatal than Ebola (approximately 1% case fatality rate for Lassa vs approximately 70% case fatality rate for Ebola without treatment) and less likely to be spread from person to person. However, some Lassa patients develop severe disease, as the patient in New Jersey did.

In West Africa, Lassa virus is carried by rodents and transmitted to humans through contact with urine or droppings of infected rodents. In rare cases it can be transmitted from person to person through direct contact with a sick person?s blood or bodily fluids, through mucous membrane, or through sexual contact. The virus is not transmitted through casual contact, and patients are not believed to be infectious before the onset of symptoms. About 100,000 to 300,000 cases of Lassa fever, and 5,000 deaths related to Lassa fever, occur in West Africa each year.

CDC is working with public health officials to generate a list of people who had contact with the patient. Those identified as close contacts of the patient will be monitored for 21 days to see if symptoms occur.

Updates will be provided as the investigation continues.

For additional information about Lassa fever see the CDC website at http://www.cdc.gov/vhf/lassa .
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[Pathfinder]

New Jersey Man Diagnosed With Lassa Fever Dies in U.S. After Liberia Trip

Updated 2 minutes ago

The man recently returned from Liberia, arriving at New York City's JFK International Airport on May 17. He grew critically ill after his return, suffering from multiple organ failure, said Dr. Tom Frieden, director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta.

... the CDC and New Jersey health officials are trying to track down and monitor anyone the man was in contact with during the past week, including health workers at two New Jersey hospitals and people who sat close to him on his recent flight from Morocco to New York.
...
CDC officials declined to give the name or identifying information about the man, other than to say he frequently traveled to Liberia on business and had worked in the mining industry. CDC officials on Monday also declined to name the New Jersey hospital where the man first went for care, or to a second New Jersey hospital where he was subsequently treated with ribavirin, an antiviral medication given intravenously.
...
The CDC plans to send a special response team including a Lassa fever expert and specialists in occupational safety and waste management to the second hospital Tuesday.
...
http://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/NYC-Lassa-Fever-Man-Dies-Disease-Africa-CDC-304951091.html

 

[Pathfinder]

For Release:
05/25/2015

Lassa Fever Reported in N.J. Traveler Returning from West Africa

Risk to public considered extremely Low

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has confirmed a diagnosis of Lassa fever in an Essex County man who recently returned from West Africa.

The patient, 55, was admitted to a hospital on May 21 with fever and sore throat and was placed in isolation. Blood samples submitted to CDC tested positive for Lassa fever today. The patient?s condition continued to decline and he passed away this evening.

Lassa fever is a viral disease that is common in West Africa, but rarely seen in the United States. It is not spread through casual contact or through the air. According to the CDC, there has never been person to person transmission of Lassa fever documented in the U.S. In rare cases, it can be transmitted through direct contact with a sick person?s blood or bodily fluids, or through sexual contact.

Despite the unlikelihood of person to person transmission, the Department of Health is working with hospital officials to identify all close contacts including health care workers, family members and anyone who may have come in contact with the patient out of an abundance of caution. They will be monitored for symptoms.

There have been five other cases of Lassa fever in travelers returning to the U.S. since 1969, including in a New Jersey patient who died in 2004 and a Minnesota case last year. Although Lassa fever can produce hemorrhagic symptoms in infected persons, the disease is not related to Ebola, which is responsible for the current outbreak in West Africa. The patient tested negative for Ebola.

In West Africa, Lassa virus is carried by rodents and transmitted to humans through contact with urine or droppings of infected rodents. 100,000 to 300,000 cases of Lassa fever, and 5,000 deaths, occur in West Africa each year.

?Given what we know about how Lassa virus spreads to people, we think the risk to the public is extremely low,? said State Epidemiologist Dr. Tina Tan.
For additional information about Lassa fever see the CDC website at http://www.cdc.gov/vhf/lassa/.

http://www.nj.gov/health/news/2015/a...20150525a.html

 

[Pathfinder]

New Jersey Lassa Fever Death Prompts C.D.C. Action

By SABRINA TAVERNISEMAY 26, 2015
...
The patient was placed under active monitoring starting on May 18, the day he came into the hospital reporting symptoms, Mr. Skinner said. Under active monitoring, local health workers contact patients to ask about symptoms and temperature. The health department reached a person listed as the man?s emergency contact on May 19, 20 and 21, and he did not report elevated temperatures, the department said. The patient was hospitalized on May 22.

A spokeswoman for the New Jersey Health Department, Donna Leusner, said the patient died at 8:45 p.m. on Monday. She did not say which hospital had treated him. The federal Department of Health and Human Services lists the Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Brunswick as the designated Ebola treatment center in New Jersey.

It was unclear whether the patient lied about his symptoms, or simply did not experience any in the days between his first visit to the hospital and when he was admitted on May 22. Unlike people with Ebola, in which symptoms tend to be constant after they first appear, patients infected with Lassa fever may have symptoms that ebb and flow, for example a temperature that appears one day but not the next.
...

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/27/us/new-jersey-lassa-fever-death-prompts-cdc-action.html

 

[Pathfinder]

Lassa fever patient treated twice at 1 New Jersey hospital

Posted: Wednesday, May 27, 2015 2:48 pm
Associated Press |

LIVINGSTON, N.J. (AP) ?...

Saint Barnabas Medical Center in Livingston said in a statement Wednesday that the 55-year-old man came to the emergency room on May 18 and was treated and released.

He returned three days later with a sore throat, fever and tiredness. He was later transferred to University Hospital in Newark where he died Monday after being diagnosed with Lassa fever.

Saint Barnabas said the man did not initially disclose that he had recently traveled abroad, but later said he had been in Liberia.
...
http://www.burlingtoncountytimes.co...cle_f709d8f5-6c5a-5464-9e89-dde38eee0543.html

 

[Biological100]

CDC- Lassa Fever Confirmed in Death of U.S. Traveler Returning from Liberia, 25 May 2015

Lassa Fever Confirmed in Death of U.S. Traveler Returning from Liberia

Risk to others considered extremely low
For Immediate Release: Monday, May 25, 2015
Contact: Media Relations
(404) 639-3286

The CDC and the New Jersey Department of Health have confirmed a death from Lassa fever which was diagnosed earlier today in a person returning to the United States from Liberia. The patient traveled from Liberia to Morocco to JFK International Airport on May 17th. The patient did not have a fever on departure from Liberia, did not report symptoms such as diarrhea, vomiting, or bleeding during the flight, and his temperature was taken on arrival in the U.S. and he did not have a fever at that time. On May 18th, the patient went to a hospital in New Jersey with symptoms of a sore throat, fever and tiredness. According to the hospital, he was asked on the 18th about his travel history and he did not indicate travel to West Africa. The patient was sent home the same day and on May 21st returned to the hospital when symptoms worsened. The patient was transferred to a second hospital prepared to treat viral hemorrhagic fevers. Samples submitted to CDC tested positive for Lassa fever early this morning. Tests for Ebola and other viral hemorrhagic fevers were negative. The patient was in appropriate isolation when he died there this evening.
Lassa fever is a viral disease common in West Africa but rarely seen in the United States. There has never been person-to-person transmission of Lassa fever documented in the United States. The New Jersey case is the sixth known occurrence of Lassa fever in travelers returning to the United States since 1969, not including convalescent patients. The last case was reported in Minnesota in 2014. Although Lassa fever can produce hemorrhagic symptoms in infected people, the disease is different from Ebola, which is responsible for the current outbreak in West Africa. In general, Lassa fever is less likely to be fatal than Ebola (approximately 1% case fatality rate for Lassa vs approximately 70% case fatality rate for Ebola without treatment) and less likely to be spread from person to person. However, some Lassa patients develop severe disease, as the patient in New Jersey did.
In West Africa, Lassa virus is carried by rodents and transmitted to humans through contact with urine or droppings of infected rodents. In rare cases it can be transmitted from person to person through direct contact with a sick person's blood or bodily fluids, through mucous membrane, or through sexual contact. The virus is not transmitted through casual contact, and patients are not believed to be infectious before the onset of symptoms. About 100,000 to 300,000 cases of Lassa fever, and 5,000 deaths related to Lassa fever, occur in West Africa each year.
CDC is working with public health officials to generate a list of people who had contact with the patient. Those identified as close contacts of the patient will be monitored for 21 days to see if symptoms occur.
Updates will be provided as the investigation continues.

For additional information about Lassa fever see the CDC website at http://www.cdc.gov/vhf/lassa.
###
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Lassa Fever Confirmed in Death of U.S. Traveler Returning from Liberia | CDC Online Newsroom | CDC
http://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/2015/p0525-lassa.html

 

[Pathfinder]

CDC: 150 Possibly Had Contact With Lassa Fever Victim

TRENTON, N.J. ? May 28, 2015, 3:34 PM ET
Associated Press

Federal and New Jersey health officials have identified more than 150 people who possibly had contact with a patient who died of Lassa Fever.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention spokesman Benjamin Haynes said in a statement Thursday that so far most of those people face no danger, but six are at a high risk of having been exposed. Thirty-three are at low risk.

...
http://abcnews.go.com/Health/wireStory/cdc-150-possibly-contact-lassa-fever-victim-31372230

 

[Shiloh]

Source: http://www.who.int/csr/don/28-may-2015-lassa-fever-usa/en/
[h=1]Lassa Fever ? United States of America[/h] Disease outbreak news
28 May 2015

On 25 May, PAHO/WHO was informed that the United States Center for Disease Control and prevention (CDC) and the New Jersey Department of Health had confirmed a fatal case of Lassa fever. The case was diagnosed on 25 May in a person returning to the U.S. from Liberia.
[h=3]Details of the case are as follows:[/h] On 17 May, the patient travelled from Liberia to JFK airport via Morocco. The patient did not have a fever on departure from Liberia, did not report symptoms (e.g., diarrhea, vomiting, or bleeding) during the flight and did not have a fever on arrival in the U.S. On 18 May, the patient visited a hospital in New Jersey with symptoms of a sore throat, fever and tiredness. According to the hospital, the patient was asked about recent travel history but did not indicate travel to West Africa. The patient was sent home the same day. On 21 May, as symptoms worsened, the patient returned to the hospital. The patient was later transferred to a specialized treatment centre for viral haemorrhagic fevers. Samples were submitted to CDC on 24 May and tested positive for Lassa fever on 25 May. Tests for Ebola and other viral haemorrhagic fevers were negative. The patient passed away on May 25.
[h=3]Background[/h] Lassa fever is an acute viral haemorrhagic illness caused by Lassa virus, a member of the arenavirus family of viruses. It is transmitted to humans from contacts with food or household items contaminated with rodent excreta. The disease is endemic in the rodent population in parts of West Africa. Person-to-person infections and laboratory transmission can also occur, particularly in the hospital environment in the absence of adequate infection control measures. Diagnosis and prompt treatment are essential.

 

[Shiloh]

Source: http://news.health.com/2015/05/29/150-people-may-have-had-contact-with-lassa-fever-victim-cdc/

150 People in New Jersey May Have Been Exposed to Rare African Virus
May 29, 2015 | By Health Editor

FRIDAY, May 29, 2015 (HealthDay News) ? At least 150 people may have had contact with a New Jersey man who died Monday in that state of Lassa fever, but most of them aren?t at serious risk of infection, U.S. health officials reported Thursday...