A German doctor died after contacting with Lassa fever while working in Sierra Leone, West Africa. The authorities of the UK and Netherlands said that many are under observation after the death of the doctor.
Health organisation of Englan said that people in close contact with the doctor are being observed to check whether they also have symptoms of dangerous Ebola-like a virus.
Netherlands National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM) stated that total of seven people had been repatriated to the Netherlands, including the unnamed doctor, and another Dutch doctor who contracted the virus while around 20 are under observation.
According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), Lassa fever is “an acute viral haemorrhagic illness” which humans can contract if exposed to the excrement of infected Mastomys rats.
The fatality rate is around 1% and is rarely symptomatic; however, it can start with a fever and gradual weakness and deteriorate into seizures, shock and a coma, if it is.