Lassa fever is a severe viral hemorrhagic illness caused by Lassa virus. Based on estimates, the number of LASV infections ranges from 300,000 to 500,000 cases in endemic areas with a fatality rate of 1%. Development of fast and sensitive tools for the control and prevention of Lassa virus infection as well as for clinical diagnostics of Lassa fever are crucial.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFLassa fever is a viral haemorrhagic fever caused by an arenavirus. The disease is endemic in West African countries, including Guinea. The rodents Mastomys natalensis and Mastomys erythroleucus have been identified as Lassa virus reservoirs in Guinea.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFDuring public health crises such as the recent outbreaks of Ebola virus disease in West Africa, breakdowns in public health systems can lead to epidemics of vaccine-preventable diseases. We report here on an outbreak of measles in the prefecture of Lola, Guinea, which started in January 2015.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThis study aimed at reconstructing the spatial and temporal evolution of Lassa virus (LASV) in the natural host population. To this end, we generated 132 partial nucleoprotein sequences of LASV from M. natalensis trapped in 12 villages around Faranah, Upper Guinea, over a period of 12 years.
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