UK officers are checking for any potential instances of Lassa fever after a traveller to England, who has since returned to Nigeria, is understood to have been contaminated.
The virus doesn’t unfold simply between individuals, and the general threat 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, individuals often turn out to be contaminated by publicity to meals, or home items contaminated with urine or faeces of rats.
Lassa fever is uncommon within the UK, however there have been a small variety of instances earlier than – most not too long ago in 2022.
UK officers say they’re “well-equipped to determine individuals who have Lassa fever” to restrict any unfold of infections.
The UKHSA says it’s “working at velocity” to search out anybody who could have had contact with the one who 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 have been in touch with this particular person whereas they have been in England, to make sure they search acceptable medical care and testing ought to they develop any signs.
“The an infection doesn’t unfold simply between individuals, and the general threat to the UK inhabitants could be very low.”
People who find themselves discovered to have Lassa fever will obtain supportive remedy, which means that they are going to be supplied with fluids, monitored for his or her signs, and handled with medicines relying on which signs they’ve. There may be not at present an efficient single remedy for the illness.
