Kurt UK officers are checking for any attainable circumstances 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 folks, and the general danger to the general public could be very low, consultants 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 nations, the place the illness is endemic, folks normally grow 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 circumstances 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 might 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 had been in touch with this particular person whereas they had 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 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 remedy, that 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.
