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Lassa Fever: An Old World Arenavirus

Lassa Fever: An Old World Arenavirus


ABSTRACT

A brief summary of lassa fever, its history, pathology and effects on the
indigenous populations. Also, lassa fever in the context of newly emerging
diseases.

LASSA FEVER

On January 12, 1969, a missionary nun, working in the small town of
Lassa, Nigeria, began complaining of a backache. Thinking she had merely pulled
a muscle, she ignored the pain and went on about her business. After a week,
however, the nurse had a throat so sore and so filled with ulcers, she couldn't
swallow. Thinking she was suffering from one of the many bacterial diseases
endemic to the area, her sisters administered every antibiotic they had on store
in the town's Church of the Brethren Mission Hospital. But, the antibiotics did
nothing. Her fever escalated, she was severely dehydrated and blotches,
hemorrhages, were appearing on her skin. She began to swell and became delirious,
so they shipped her to a larger hospital, where one day later she went into
convulsions and died. After a nurse who was tending to the sister came down with
the same symptoms and died, the doctors in the hospital began to suspect it was
a disease heretofore unseen by any of them. Autopsy on the nurse showed
significant damage to every organ in the body, the heart was stopped up, with
loads of blood cells and platelets piled well into the arteries and veins.
Fluids and blood filled the lungs. Dead cells and lipids clogged the liver and
spleen. The kidneys were so congested with dead cells and free proteins they had
ceased to function. Dissecting the lymph nodes, they discovered that they were
completely empty; every white blood cell had been utilized in a futile attempt
to stave off the unknown microbe. A few days later, a prominent western viral
researcher contracted the unknown disease and the hunt for the microbe that
caused lassa fever, began in earnest.(Garrett, 1994)
Lassa fever is a virus belonging to the family Arenaviridae. Genus
Arenavirus, although...