Outbreak investigations of viral hemorrhagic fevers : the response methods to a suspected lassa fever case in Ghana, 2018 / Ernest Kenu, Basil Benduri Kaburi, Franklin Asiedu-Bekoe, Edwin Andrews Afari.
On February 23, 2018, a 26-year-old man presented to the Tema General Hospital (TGH)--a large referral hospital--with a 1-day history of general weakness, severe headache, joint pains, and profuse vomiting of blood with clots. He was suspected of Lassa fever. A polymerase chain reaction (PCR) invest...
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Full Text (via SAGE) |
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| Main Authors: | , , , |
| Format: | Electronic eBook |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
London :
SAGE Publications Ltd,
2020.
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| Series: | SAGE Research Methods Cases: Medicine and Health.
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| Subjects: |
| Summary: | On February 23, 2018, a 26-year-old man presented to the Tema General Hospital (TGH)--a large referral hospital--with a 1-day history of general weakness, severe headache, joint pains, and profuse vomiting of blood with clots. He was suspected of Lassa fever. A polymerase chain reaction (PCR) investigation of his blood samples at the Noguchi Memorial Institute of Medical Research (NMIMR) yielded indeterminate results. He died on February 27 in an infectious disease treatment center situated in the hospital. In all, 168 close contacts of the suspected case, including hospital staff and patients, were identified through contact tracing. These were each monitored for 21 days after their respective last dates of contact with the suspected case. We monitored these contacts both manually and in real time using the REDCap (Research Electronic Data Capture) app. An active case search identified two suspected cases who subsequently tested negative for the disease. None of the contacts developed symptoms. Blood samples were taken from trapped rats in neighborhoods of the house of the case and all tested negative for Lassa virus. Subsequent reruns of the test on blood samples of the suspected case were negative for Lassa virus. The one health approach to confronting global health security threats came in handy in our rapid response strategy to the potential Lassa fever outbreak. |
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| Physical Description: | 1 online resource : illustrations. |
| Bibliography: | Includes bibliographical references and index. |
| ISBN: | 9781529726473 1529726476 |
| Source of Description, Etc. Note: | Description based on XML content. |