Authors: Frame John D Jahrling Peter B YalleyOgunro Jacob E Monson Mark H
Publish Date: 1984/01/01
Volume: 78, Issue: 5, Pages: 656-660
Abstract
John D Frame Peter B Jahrling Jacob E YalleyOgunro Mark H Monson Endemic Lassa fever in Liberia II Serological and virological findings in hospital patients Transactions of The Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene Volume 78 Issue 5 1984 Pages 656–660 https//doiorg/101016/0035920384902323Patients admitted with fever to four Liberian hospitals were tested for Lassa fever LF by means of the indirect fluorescent antibody technique and by virus isolation The incidence of LF and presumptive LF among consecutive febrile adult patients was 14 and 17 in two hospitals located in the interior no cases of LF were found among 24 consecutive patients in a hospital near the coast In the three inland hospitals the incidence of confirmed or presumptive LF among the patients in whom the diagnosis was seriously considered varied from 13 to 36 Lassa virus was isolated from 17 patients out of the 59 cases found in this surveyLF is a common cause of fever in northern Liberia The diagnosis depends upon the readiness of the staff to consider the diagnosis the collection of blood specimens at appropriate times and the preservation of sera at subfreezing temperatures to permit survival of active virus and its subsequent recovery in an appropriate laboratory
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