UK officers are checking for any doable circumstances of Lassa fever after a traveller to England, who has since returned to Nigeria, is thought to have been contaminated.
The virus doesn’t unfold simply between folks, and the general danger to the general public could be very low, specialists advise.
Anybody but to be contacted by the UK Well being Safety Company (UKHSA) could be very unlikely to have had any publicity, they are saying.
In some West African international locations, the place the illness is endemic, folks normally turn into contaminated by publicity to meals, or home goods contaminated with urine or faeces of rats.
Lassa fever is uncommon within the UK, however there have been a small variety of circumstances earlier than – most not too long ago in 2022.
UK officers say they’re “well-equipped to establish individuals who have Lassa fever” to restrict any unfold of infections.
The UKHSA says it’s “working at pace” to seek out anybody who might have had contact with the one that had Lassa fever.
Dr Meera Chand, deputy director on the UK Well being Safety Company, mentioned: “Our well being safety groups are working at tempo to get in contact with individuals who had been in touch with this particular person whereas they had been in England, to make sure they search applicable medical care and testing ought to they develop any signs.
“The an infection doesn’t unfold simply between folks, and the general danger to the UK inhabitants could be very low.”
People who find themselves discovered to have Lassa fever will obtain supportive therapy, which means that they are going to be supplied with fluids, monitored for his or her signs, and handled with drugs relying on which signs they’ve. There’s not presently an efficient single therapy for the illness.
