Lassa Fever Case Report: Challenges in Making Early Diagnosis

Introduction: Lassa fever is a disease of public health importance because of the associated morbidity and high case fatality rate among hospitalized patients. Even after recovery, there may be residual problems such as sensorineural hearing loss. The initial presentation of Lassa fever may be with non-specific symptoms similar to what is seen in the more common febrile illnesses such as malaria or typhoid fever. In such a setting therefore, timely diagnosis of Lassa fever may be difficult. Case Report: We report a case of Lassa fever that presented to our institution. She was a middle aged woman who had non-specific symptoms of febrile illness and who died in less than 48 hours of admission. She had a subtle bleeding on the lip just before death which was what raised the suspicion for Lassa fever. Laboratory confirmation of Lassa fever was made retrospectively. Conclusion: When the presenting symptoms are non-specific, a high index of suspicion is required for timely recognition of Lassa fever. Early diagnosis is important for prompt therapeutic intervention as well as for limiting the spread of the disease. This is the second case of Lassa fever presenting to our hospital, but the first published case of Lassa fever from our hospital.