After newborn baby died from Ebola-like virus transported by rats, UK issued Lassa fever warning

Hundreds of people are being closely monitored by experts from the UK Health Security Agency (UKHA) over transmission fees. It comes after three instances in England were confirmed. NHS employees who had contact with the patients at Luton and Dunstable University Hospitals, as well as Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge, are being monitored.

Many of these individuals will continue to be monitored for the rest of the month and into March, the Guardian reports.

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO),

Lassa fever is an acute viral haemorrhagic illness caused by Lassa virus, a member of the arenavirus family of viruses.

Humans usually become infected with Lassa virus through exposure to food or household items contaminated with urine or faeces of infected Mastomys rats.

The disease is endemic in the rodent population in parts of West Africa.

Human-to-human transmissions are less likely, but can still occur – particularly in health care settings in the absence of adequate infection prevention and control measures.

Most people make a full recovery from the virus. The overall case-fatality rate is 1 percent.

Among patients who are hospitalised with severe clinical presentation of Lassa fever, case-fatality is estimated at around 15 percent.