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WHO / LASSA FEVER
STORY: WHO / LASSA FEVER
TRT: 01:40
SOURCE: WHO
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS
DATELINE: 1 APRIL 2016, GENEVA, SWITZERLAND / FILE
FILE - GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
1. Zoom out, exterior World Health Organization Headquarters
01 APRIL 2016, GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
2. Wide shot, Pierre Formenty discussing report
3. SOUNDBITE (English) Pierre Formenty, Scientist, Pandemic and Epidemic Disease Department, World Health Organization:
“Eighty percent of the people who have Lassa fever do not have any signs, it’s only one in five who are going to show symptoms - like malaria in fact - with fever, headaches, and then later after a few days you have diarrhoea, you have vomiting, and you can have headaches; and then it’s complicated. And for people who are going to die, you have also bleeding symptoms.”
4. Close up, Lassa fever report
5. SOUNDBITE (English) Pierre Formenty, Scientist, Pandemic and Epidemic Desease Department, World Health Organization:
“Most of the human cases are in fact people who are exposed to rodents. So, it could be for example, young kids of 12-14 years old, who are going into the countryside, in the field, and hunting rats. And when they are in contact with these rats, they are going to be infected with Lassa fever. It could also be in a rural area where the rats themselves are going into the houses, and they are infecting the food of people, and when the people are in contact with this infected food, they get the disease.”
6. Med shot, Pierre Formenty discussing report
7. SOUNDBITE (English) Pierre Formenty, Scientist, Pandemic and Epidemic Desease Department, World Health Organization:
“We have some laboratories in the region who are able to diagnose Lassa fever, but they are not too many, maybe five or six in total. We need now a test that you can do in the hospital at the point of care with the patient, so that, very quickly, we know that it is Lassa fever, we treat with Ribavirin, and we save the life of the patient.”
8. Med shot, Pierre Formenty discussing report
Lassa fever has killed more than 160 people in West Africa since November 2015. The World Health Organization (WHO) said many of these lives could have been saved if rapid diagnostic tests were available enabling patients to receive early treatments.
Dr Pierre Formenty, expert in haemorrhagic fevers at WHO, said “without early diagnosis and treatment, 1 in 5 infections result in severe disease, where the virus affects several organs such as the liver, spleen and kidneys”.
Since November 2015, Nigeria, Benin, Sierra Leone and Togo have reported more than 300 cases of Lassa fever and 164 deaths. Nigeria accounts for the majority of the cases with 266 cases and 138 deaths reported in 22 of the country’s 34 provinces.
WHO is supporting the ministries of health in these countries by providing Ribavirin antiviral drugs that cure Lassa fever and protective personal equipment to protect health care workers in the hospitals. It is also launching communications and social mobilization campaigns in rural areas, and helping to set up and strengthen surveillance systems.
Dr Formenty said WHO has “some laboratories in the region who are able to diagnose Lassa fever, but they are not too many, maybe five or six in total.” He said what is needed now is a “test that you can do in the hospital at the point of care with the patient, so that, very quickly, we know that it is Lassa fever, we treat with Ribavirin, and we save the life of the patient.”
The Lassa virus is carried by the Mastomys rat found in parts of West Africa. The virus is transmitted to humans from direct contact with infected rats by catching and preparing them for food, or through contact with food or household items contaminated with rat faeces or urine. Although rare, the virus can also be transmitted through contact with an infected person’s body fluids.
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