A man traveling back to NJ from Nigeria this month died in a hospital of Lassa Fever yesterday health authorities announced.
Health officials said, the unidentified man, reportedly traveled from Liberia to Morocco and arrived at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York on May 17.
Officials said that the man did not have a fever when or any symptoms such as bleeding, diarrhea or vomiting when he departed from Liberia. When he arrived in the United States, his temperature was taken and again, he did not have a fever according to health officials.
According to health officials, the next day, the man went to a hospital in New Jersey with a sore throat, fever and fatigue. The hospital released the man after a medical exam and did ask about the man's travel where he did not indicate staying in West Africa according to officials. Health officials said the man returned to the hospital on May 21 with worsening symptoms, when the hospital transferred him to a treatment center “prepared to treat viral hemorrhagic fevers.” The man died days later officials said.
According to the CDC, Lassa virus is carried by rodents and transmitted to humans through contact with urine or droppings of infected rodents.
In rare cases it can be transmitted through direct contact with a sick person’s blood or bodily fluids, through mucus membrane, or through sexual contact.
The CDC said Lassa fever is a viral disease common in West Africa but rarely seen in the United States. The disease have symptoms similar to Ebola — diarrhea, vomiting and bleeding — but is less infectious and far less likely to be fatal.
About 1 percent of Lassa patients die, compared to about 70 percent of Ebola patients.
IMAGE/SOURCE: Center for Disease Control/ theguardian.com