My childhood in Accra Aug 24, 2008
Later in life I discovered that the illness was most likely Lassa fever, of which very little was known at that time. In the run-up to independence from Britain in 1957 a new stadium was built in Accra. (Ghana Web, Ghana)
SIGA Technologies to Announce Second Quarter 2008 Results of Operations on August 12, 2008 Aug 5, 2008
SIGA has antiviral programs targeting smallpox and other Category A pathogens, including arenaviruses (Lassa fever, Junin, Machupo, Guanarito, Sabia, and lymphocytic choriomeningitis), dengue virus, and the filoviruses (Ebola and Marburg). For more information about SIGA, please visit SIGA's Web site at. (Primezone Releases)
Infectious melodies Jun 14, 2008
The Iranian-born Sabeti, a Rhodes Scholar by way of MIT, is currently exploring the interplay between human evolution and infectious diseases, with the goal of developing more effective regimens to combat killers like malaria and Lassa fever. She travels to Africa at least twice a year to do fieldwork, supported by major grants from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and Burroughs Wellcome Fund. (Boston Globe)
Coming soon? Apr 22, 2008
These have the highest security level and work on highly contagious and incurable diseases such as Ebola and Lassa fever. The government also has around 350 category 3 labs where work on Sars and HIV takes place. (Guardian Unlimited -- Society)
Vaccine for Ebola virus Mar 31, 2008
As well as the difficulty in getting the right staff and facilities, vaccines for viruses like Ebola, Marburg and Lassa fever have been difficult to produce because simple killed viruses that just trigger an antibody response from the blood are not effective. For these viruses we need to get a cell-mediated response, which involves our bodies producing killer T-cells before immunity is strong enough to prevent or clear an infection. (EurekAlert!)
Nigeria: Measles, Cholera Claim 264 in 3 Months Jan 31, 2008
Similarly, Lassa fever, yellow fever, cerebro-spinal meningitis, avian influenza and cholera have all taken their tolls on Nigeria over the same period. According to the report, 21 cases of lass a fever were reported and eight deaths recorded in the high risk areas of Edo, Plateau, Lagos, Ogun, Nasarawa, Taraba, Borno and Anambra States. (allAfrica.com)
SIGA Completes 21 Day Multi-Dose Human Clinical Safety and Dose-Ranging Trial of Its Lead Smallpox Drug ST-246 Dec 6, 2007
In addition to smallpox, SIGA has antiviral programs targeting other Category A viral pathogens, including arenaviruses (Lassa fever, Junin, Machupo, Guanarito, Sabia, and lymphocytic choriomeningitis), dengue virus, and the filoviruses (Ebola and Marburg) ... In addition to smallpox, SIGA has antiviral programs targeting other Category A pathogens, including arenaviruses (Lassa fever, Junin, Machupo, Guanarito, Sabia, and lymphocytic choriomeningitis), dengue virus, and the filoviruses (Ebola... (Primezone Releases)
Ebola and other tropical viruses Nov 30, 2007
Lassa fever - first noticed in the 1960s after an outbreak in Nigeria, and is spread from rodents, the natural host. Rift Valley fever - mainly found in sub-Saharan Africa, and spread by mosquitoes. (BBC News -- Health)
Monkey meat at center of NYC case Nov 25, 2007
More ominously, the complaint warned of the potential health risks to humans linking bushmeat to diseases like Lassa fever, Ebola, HIV, SARS and monkeypox. . (MSNBC -- Crime)
Corgenix designs test kits for deadly diseases Oct 29, 2007
A small Broomfield-based company -- currently trading for less than 50 cents a share -- hopes that test kits that can detect killer viruses such as Ebola and Lassa Fever will lift it out of the over-the-counter bulletin board and into the American Stock Exchange. For three years, has worked with researchers from Tulane University, the U.S. Army and two other biotech companies to develop diagnostic test kits that will help detect an outbreak of deadly diseases without the benefit of a... (Denver Business Journal, CO)
Your Health This Week: Jun 6, 2007
Lassa fever first came to the United States via an ambulance plane carrying an infected patient from West Africa. Tuberculosis, measles, and mumps have also traveled by plane. (Slate)
New Animal Model Boosts Biodefense Research On Lassa Fever Jun 5, 2007
Scientists at the Southwest Foundation for Biomedical Research have developed a new tool in the battle against a potential biological weapon, Lassa fever, which kills several thousand people each year and leaves thousands more with disabilities such as deafness and liver damage. Scientists at Southwest Foundation for Biomedical Research have developed the common marmoset as a valuable new research model to advance biodefense work against the Lassa fever virus ... 81, Issue 12), SFBR scientists... (Science Daily)
Thumbs up or down on Sherman? Apr 24, 2007
maybe they should have left all of you there so you could participate in the vicious tribal wars in that wonderful country, not to mention sharing in such afflictions as Ebola, Lassa Fever, AIDS, as well as starvation and famine that plagues that continent. By Cuz. (Atlanta Journal-Constitution)
Homeland Security plans NBAF site visit Apr 17, 2007
During the question-and-answer period, Johnson sidestepped around a question regarding the kinds of research that would be conducted at the NBAF. A reporter asked if the facility would be authorized to conduct research on Ebola or the Lassa fever, both of which are highly virulent diseases. Johnson said repeatedly that that work was not the mission of the facility, but did not say research on those specific diseases or types of diseases would not be conducted at NBAF.. (Leavenworth Times, KS)
Lassa Fever Returns as Health Sector crumbles Apr 13, 2007
Liberia, which experienced a devastating 14-year civil war that ended in 2003, last registered Lassa fever outbreaks in September, mostly in Nimba County ... "We are very concerned about the active circulation of Lassa fever and are now putting in place mechanisms to deal with the disease, especially in the affected areas," Wesseh said She said five people suspected of having the disease died, but health authorities had not confirmed whether the cause of death was Lassa. (Ocnus.net)
No weekend grocery talks Mar 3, 2007
San Diego-based Aethlon Medical said it will collaborate with the Southwest Foundation for Biomedical Research to study the company's blood-filtration system, called the Hemopurifier, as a potential treatment for Lassa fever, an endemic viral condition in Africa. The company has already started studies of the system with researchers at the Centers for Disease Control and the Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases. (San Diego Union-Tribune -- Business)
Making a case for 'sacred' meat Feb 27, 2007
Some studies, investigators said in court papers, have linked bushmeat to HIV, SARS and Lassa fever, a viral disease passed by a small rodent. Another concern is that Ebola, a severe and often fatal viral infection, is harbored in some monkeys. (Newsday -- New York City)
New study may show how to forestall a fatal, virus-caused immune-system meltdown Feb 15, 2007
But in the case of some of the worlds deadliest pathogens including the Ebola, Marburg and Lassa fever viruses, as well as the influenza virus strain responsible for the 1918 flu pandemic the immune system itself actually becomes the most dangerous element of the disease ... (During some Lassa fever epidemics, as many as 50 percent of those diagnosed with the disease have died from it ... Connecting those strands is critical to diagnosing and restoring balance to an immune system gone... (EurekAlert!)
Clive Aslet: The price of a £5 roast Feb 4, 2007
Zoonoses include many of the world's most fearful killers - anthrax, bubonic plague, Ebola, Lassa fever, probably HIV. So far, nearly all the people who have died from human bird flu live or work close to poultry. They caught the disease directly from birds. (Guardian Unlimited -- UK)
Quarantine unit ready to isolate infection Dec 22, 2006
The Fort Detrick one has been activated 20 times in 34 years for quarantine of people under observation for exposure to exotic hemorrhagic viruses such as Lassa fever and Ebola. The Atlanta unit, operated by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, has been used twice since it opened in 2002. (MSNBC -- Health)
Beyond Bird Flu And Mad Cow Nov 11, 2006
Lassa fever, a serious viral infection spread by contact with the feces or urine of infected rodents, affected up to 300,000 people and killed about 5,000. SARS, believed to have originated in palm civets and/or horseshoe bats, killed 774 of the 8,102 people infected. (CBS News)
Study: 50 million people struck by animal diseases Nov 9, 2006
Zoonotic killers during 2000 to 2005 included rabies (estimated 30,000 killed), dengue virus (affected 50 million people, killed around 25,000), Japanese encephalitis virus (estimated 15,000 died), Lassa fever (affected up to 300,000, killed about 5,000) and SARS Corona virus (774 died) ... Lassa fever is spread by a rodent known as the multimammate rat, and the host for SARS is yet to be discovered. (Xinhuanet, China)
LIBERIA: China steps in to end lassa fever outbreak Oct 28, 2006
MONROVIA, 27 Oct 2006 (IRIN) - The Chinese Embassy in Liberia has pitched in enough drugs to treat an outbreak of the deadly lassa fever virus that the Liberian authorities had said they were powerless to stop. A virus transmitted by rodents, lassa fever kills up to 5,000 people ever year in West Africa ... Liberian health officials contacted by IRIN in September said they were short of drugs to treat people infected with lassa fever, and the United Nations warned that the countrys ramshackle... (IRINnews.org)
Liberia:Lassa Fever Outbreak Reveals Health Infrastructure Gaps Sep 29, 2006
com: Liberia: Lassa Fever Outbreak Reveals Health Infrastructure Gaps ... Liberia: Lassa Fever Outbreak Reveals Health Infrastructure Gaps ... An outbreak of Lassa fever in northern Liberia has already claimed at least seven lives and rural health workers say they lack drugs to treat further illness, health authorities said Thursday. (allAfrica.com)
Forget earlier reports on pregnancy concerns Apr 28, 2006
The deadly Marburg virus, like several other so-called filoviruses, including Ebola and Lassa fever, is both hard to treat and to prevent. But in The Lancet, Canadian and U.S. researchers reported that an experimental vaccine, already known to prevent Marburg, can also be used to treat it. (CNN -- Health)
Gene-specific Ebola Therapies Protect Non-human Primates From Lethal Disease Jan 14, 2006
(June 28, 2005) -- US and Canadian scientists have developed a vaccine against Lassa fever that fully protects nonhuman primates from experimental infection with lethal doses of Lassa virus. The research, published in. (Science Daily)
