5, 6, 7, 8 Presently, an epidemic of another VHF, Ebola virus disease, has spread throughout Guinea and beyond its borders. 3, 4 The upturn in global travel activities and international commitments in conflict and disaster situations have made the import of Lassa fever and other viral haemorrhagic fevers (VHFs) into non-endemic countries a more likely event than in the past, which has been well documented. Subsequent to its first isolation in Lassa, Nigeria and its restricted endemicity to two geographical regions in West Africa, recent reports have shown expanded areas of spread. Human-to-human transmission of the virus may give rise to nosocomial or community-based outbreaks. Rodents of the genus Mastomys are the reservoir for the virus, which is transmitted through direct contact with materials contaminated with urine and/or droppings of infected rodents. 1 There are an estimated 300 000 to 500 000 cases of Lassa fever each year, 2 with a reported mortality rate of 15% – 20% for hospitalised patients.
The virus is the aetiologic agent of Lassa fever, which is an acute and often fatal illness, endemic in portions of West Africa. Lassa virus is a single-stranded RNA virus and a member of the Arenaviridae family and the genus Arenavirus. These data confirm Lassa fever endemicity in West Africa. Lassa virus was probably responsible for the outbreak of viral haemorrhagic fever in the military camp. The five asymptomatic close contacts were negative for Lassa virus.Ĭonclusions: The Lassa virus strains identified in the two Ghanaian soldiers had molecular epidemiological links to strains from Liberia.
Results: The presence of Lassa virus in the soldiers’ blood samples was shown by L-gene segment homology to be the Macenta and las803792 strains previously isolated in Liberia, with close relationships then confirmed by phylogenetic tree construction. Upon detection of positive signals for Lassa virus ribonucleic material by two different polymerase chain reaction assays, sequencing and phylogenetic analyses were performed. Methods: We used molecular assays on sera from the two patients to identify the causative organism. Objective: We report the results of these investigations to highlight the importance of molecular diagnostic applications and the need for heightened awareness about Lassa fever in West Africa. Blood samples from the soldiers and five asymptomatic close contacts were subjected to laboratory investigations. Two Ghanaian soldiers on a United Nations peacekeeping mission in Liberia were taken ill with viral haemorrhagic fever syndrome following the death of a sick colleague and were referred to a military hospital in Accra, Ghana, in May 2013. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution,Īnd reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.īackground: Recent reports have shown an expansion of Lassa virus from the area where it was first isolated in Nigeria to other areas of West Africa. Nimo-Paintsil, Badu Sarkodie, Prince Agbenohevi, Michael Adjabeng, Nicholas N.A. Nyarko, Sally-Ann Ohene, Joseph Amankwa, Ralph K. Molecular confirmation of Lassa fever imported into Ghana Molecular confirmation of Lassa fever imported into Ghana. Ampofo Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research, University of Ghana, Legon, Ghanaīonney JHK, Nyarko EO, Ohene S-A, et al. Kyei 37 Military Hospital, Public Health Division, Accra, Ghana Samuel Bel-Nono 37 Military Hospital, Public Health Division, Accra, Ghana William K. Nimo-Paintsil Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research, University of Ghana, Legon, Ghana Badu Sarkodie Disease Surveillance Department, Ghana Health Service, Accra, Ghana Prince Agbenohevi 37 Military Hospital, Public Health Division, Accra, Ghana Michael Adjabeng Disease Surveillance Department, Ghana Health Service, Accra, Ghana Nicholas N.A. Ametepi 37 Military Hospital, Public Health Division, Accra, Ghana Shirley C. Nyarko 37 Military Hospital, Public Health Division, Accra, Ghana Sally-Ann Ohene World Health Organization Ghana Country Office, Accra, Ghana Joseph Amankwa Disease Surveillance Department, Ghana Health Service, Accra, Ghana Ralph K. Bonney Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research, University of Ghana, Legon, Ghana Edward O.
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