Lassa fever

A 22-year-old female German student was admitted with fever of unknown orig in for 5 days to thr: hospital of her hometown immediately after returning from a 7-week journey under simple conditions through 4 West African countr ies After exclusion of malaria and typhoid and nonrespondence tu antibiosis, sh e was transferred on the 4th day to the Department of Tropical Medicine in Wurzburg. After thr clinical assumption of Lassa fever, the virus was confi rmed by PCR within 3 hours (Bernhard Nocht Institute, Hamburg) on thr 10th day of her illness. The assumption was based on travel history, continuous fever, cough, pharyngitis, thoracic pain, and exclusion of other acute infe ctions. From the beginning, the patient was cared for with barrier nursing and afte r diagnosis under strict isolation in an intensive care unit reserved for h er alone by a team of doctors and nurses specialized in tropical medicine a nd intensive care. The staff was protected through isolation suits with fil ters. Monitoring and therapy entitled all methods of intensive care and int ravenous administration of ribavirin 16 mg/kg body weight = 900 mg every 6 hours. The patient died on the 14th day of her illness in a volume deficien cy shock due to uncontrollable heavy hemorrhage from all organs including t he skin, a so-called "leakage syndrome". Conclusion: Conclusions are drawn regarding training in tropical medicine, diagnostics of highly contagious infections, intensive care of patients aff ected with them under isolation, contact tracing, psychological crisis inte rvention for personnel media information, care of the infectious corpse and disposal of infectious waste.