Patient with suspected Lassa arrives at Emory University Hospital
ATLANTA (CBS46) – A patient who may have Lassa fever has arrived at Emory University Hospital’s Serious Communicable Diseases Unit, according to officials with Emory.
Emory released the following statement: “Our patient arrived early Saturday morning and is being treated in the Serious Communicable Diseases Unit at Emory University Hospital for symptoms consistent with a fever-related illness.”
The unidentified patient’s diagnosis is not yet confirmed.
Emory will work closely with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and with the Georgia Department of Public Health in diagnosing the patient.
Lassa is an acute viral infection that has been prevalent in West Africa.
The patient, an American physician assistant working for a missionary organization in Togo, West Africa, arrived via air transport.
Emory was contacted by the U.S. State Department and asked to accept the patient in its SCDU, an isolation unit within the hospital in which four patients with Ebola virus disease were successfully treated in 2014.
Lassa fever is different from Ebola. Although Lassa fever and Ebola can result in similar symptoms, Lassa fever is less likely than Ebola to spread from person to person and is far less deadly.
For more information on Lassa fever, visit the CDC website.
*Photo via CBS46
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