Overview

Lassa virus (LASV) is a zoonotic pathogen that is endemic in several West African countries. It causes annual outbreaks of Lassa fever (LF) with a case fatality rate of 20-30% in hospitalized patients. LASV belongs to the family of Arenaviridae and is transmitted from it’s wildly distributed natural rodent host Mastomys natalensis to humans through the direct contact with infected animals or via contaminated household items or food. However human-to human transmission is possible and occurs mostly in hospital settings. LASV causes annual outbreaks of Lassa fever (LF) with 100.000 – 300.000 estimated infections and 5.000 deaths per year based on seroprevalence studies.