Disease

Lassa Fever Outbreak In Liberia

An outbreak of of the viral disease, Lassa fever, in Central Liberia in West Africa has sickened a at least a dozen people. 12 Lassa fever cases have been reported from Phebe Hospital in Bong County in Central Liberia over the past 2 months. Of these, there have been 8 fatalities based on clinical diagnosis.

The Lassa fever belt in Liberia occurs predominantly in Lofa, Bong and Nimba Counties across the northern tier of counties bordering Guinea.

According to the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Lassa fever is an acute viral illness that occurs in West Africa. The virus, a member of the virus family Arenaviridae, is a single-stranded RNA virus and is zoonotic, or animal-borne.

Rare Creutzfeld-Jacob Outbreak in New England?

Health officials recently informed 15 patients across New England that they may be infected with Creutzfeldt-Jacob disease (CJD). Unfortunately, there is no screening mechanism for the disease, so maybe they will know for sure in five to ten years. CJD, which is caused by a misshapen protein called a prion, is a rare disease accounting for only 200 cases in the United States every year. However, our inability to screen for prion diseases, as well as their relation to Mad Cow disease and Kuru (the cannibal’s disease) cast an ominous and media-hyped light on CJD cases. Prions convert our brains’ proteins into other prions, creating a cascade of neurogenerative disease. But we don’t really know how this happens.

Once symptoms like cognitive defects and dementia arise, there is little that can be done to stop CJD. Like all prion diseases, there is no cure for CJD.