Lassa Fever: An Old World Arenavirus Essay -- essays research papers

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 being around for about 60 years in the form of lymphocytic choriomeningitis, has recently been brought to the public's attention because of the large number of species known as "emerging viruses" in the genera. The genera consists mostly of new world viruses, among them the Junin, Machupo and Guanarito viruses, which cause, respective... ...verage is around 20%.(Sanford, 1992) To date there has been no intensive mapping of the extent of virulent Lassa distribution in Africa and there is no surveillance for spread or contraction of the established highly endemic zones.(Southern, 1996) It took a number of sick westerners to grab the attention of the developed nations before they began to investigate this illness. Now that we have discovered it and are convinced it is not an immediate danger, we have retreated to our own nations, without so much as a single rodent eradication program. As a result the disease has spread to a much larger endemic area. The feeling is that it could be controlled by proper hygienic and educational measures, but the developed world chooses to leave the dying and forgotten continent, Africa, to suffer yet another vicious and deadly disease. LITERATURE CITED Garrett, Laurie, 1994, "Into the Woods", The Coming Plague; Newly Emerging Diseases in a World out of Balance, 71 -99. Southern, Peter, 1996, "Arenaviridae: The Viruses and Their Replication", Fields Virology, 1505 -1520. Sanford, Jay, "Lassa Fever", The Merck Manual, 218 -219.