LLassa fever is a disease that kills 5,000 to 6,000 people each year. It is endemic in West Africa, particularly in Nigeria, Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.
Rarely this Thursday, May 2, the virus was detected in the Paris region. A man was taken to the Bégin military hospital in Val-de-Marne. Generally, we do not find cases of this type in the Northern Hemisphere.
“The virus circulates almost permanently, especially in Nigeria, the most affected country but also the most populated in Africa. In total, it is estimated that 160 to 180 million people are potentially at risk,” explains Sylvain Baize, head of the biology unit of emerging viral infections at the Pasteur Institute, to our colleagues at BFM TV.
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How is the virus transmitted?
It is a zoonosis, an infection transmissible from animals to humans against which there is no vaccine. It is transmitted by contact with food or household items contaminated with rodent urine or droppings. “A large number of these rodents live near or even inside homes, and their infection rate can be up to 80%,” indicates the Pasteur Institute.
The secretions of a sick person are also contagious and transmission can occur in the event of direct contact with urine, blood, excrement or any other secretion.
