Chemotherapy of Lassa Virus Infection

Lassa fever is an acute febrile illness caused by an arenavirus (Lassa virus) first isolated in 1969 from patients in Nigeria. In 1972, the rodent reservoir of Lassa virus was identified as the multimammate rat Mastomys natalensis. Since then, human infection and disease have been observed in five other countries in West Africa, and related viruses have been isolated from various rodent species in four countries in Central and Southern Africa, though the roles of the latter in human infection and disease are presently unknown. Recent intensive study of Lassa fever in Sierra Leone, West Africa has led to a greater understanding of its epidemiology and clinical spectrum, and to the demonstration of effective chemotherapy with ribavirin [1]. This chapter will discuss the background and evidence of the effectiveness of ribavirin in Lassa fever.