A first case of Lassa fever was detected in France, in Val-de-Marne. This viral hemorrhagic fever, which is particularly prevalent in West Africa, should however not spread in France, reports La Dépêche.
A rare and little-known disease in France. Lassa fever has just appeared in France with a first case detected in Val-de-Marne. According to information from BFMTV, the patient is currently being treated at the Bégin military hospital in Saint-Mandé. The state of health of this soldier returning from abroad “do not cause concern”reassured the Ministry of Health, relayed by our colleagues from Le Parisien.
Discovered in 1969 in Nigeria, Lassa fever occurs mainly in West Africa. She is “classified as viral hemorrhagic fever, like Ebola”, indicates Professor Christophe Rapp, specialist in infectious diseases at the American Hospital of Paris in Neuilly, to La Dépêche, Saturday May 4. The symptoms are quite difficult to detect. “It’s a fever that resembles the flu or malaria. There are few suggestive signs since the hemorrhages occur later”explains the professor to the regional daily.
“It will never be an epidemic like Covid-19”
Lassa fever is not transmitted by the respiratory route, which limits the risk of epidemic. “It is only transmitted if there is contact with the patient’s fluids which would result from a lack of precaution on the part of the caregiver”, specifies Professor Christophe Rapp to La Dépêche. The specialist is quite reassuring: “The epidemic potential of Lassa hemorrhagic fever in France following the importation of this case is close to zero. It will never be an epidemic like Covid-19”. In West Africa, the nosocomial risk is greater. In this region of the world, the disease affects between 100,000 and 300,000 people per year and causes the death of 5,000 to 6,000 of them, according to the Pasteur Institute.
published on May 5 at 12:10 p.m., Cédric Alexis, 6Medias
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