While viral hemorrhagic fevers (VHFs), like Lassa fever, are very serious, they are not common in the U.S. However, it is important for healthcare providers to understand high consequence viruses, like Lassa fever, so they can appropriately diagnose and care for their patients. This video, the first in a two-part training series on Lassa fever, provides an overview, describing the epidemiology and clinical presentation of the virus.
]]>While viral hemorrhagic fevers (VHFs), like Lassa fever, are very serious, they are not common in the U.S. However, it is important for healthcare providers to understand high consequence viruses, like Lassa fever, so they can appropriately diagnose and care for their patients. This video, the first in a two-part training series on Lassa fever, provides an overview, describing the epidemiology and clinical presentation of the virus.
By the end of this training, you will be able to:
While viral hemorrhagic fevers (VHFs), like Lassa fever, are very serious, they are not common in the U.S. However, it is important for healthcare providers to understand high consequence viruses, like Lassa fever, so they can appropriately diagnose and care for their patients. This video is the second in a two-part training series on Lassa fever for healthcare providers. It focuses on methods for diagnosing Lassa fever and infection control measures to consider while caring for a patient with Lassa fever. Participants will learn about treatment options, as well as post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP).
]]>While viral hemorrhagic fevers (VHFs), like Lassa fever, are very serious, they are not common in the U.S. However, it is important for healthcare providers to understand high consequence viruses, like Lassa fever, so they can appropriately diagnose and care for their patients. This video is the second in a two-part training series on Lassa fever for healthcare providers. It focuses on methods for diagnosing Lassa fever and infection control measures to consider while caring for a patient with Lassa fever. Participants will learn about treatment options, as well as post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP).
This activity provides 0.3 contact hours.
While the list of reportable conditions varies by state, the Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists (CSTE) has recommended that state health departments report cases of selected diseases to CDC’s National Notifiable Diseases Surveillance System (NNDSS). Every year, case definitions are updated using CSTE’s Position Statements. They provide uniform criteria of national notifiable infectious and non-infectious conditions for reporting purposes.
]]>A surveillance case definition is a set of uniform criteria used to define a disease for public health surveillance. Surveillance case definitions enable public health officials to classify and count cases consistently across reporting jurisdictions. Surveillance case definitions are not intended to be used by healthcare providers for making a clinical diagnosis or determining how to meet an individual patient’s health needs.
While the list of reportable conditions varies by state, the Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists (CSTE) has recommended that state health departments report cases of selected diseases to CDC’s National Notifiable Diseases Surveillance System (NNDSS). Every year, case definitions are updated using CSTE’s Position Statements. They provide uniform criteria of national notifiable infectious and non-infectious conditions for reporting purposes.
The following links provide surveillance case definitions (a set of uniform criteria used to define a disease for public health surveillance) for current and historical conditions. These links link out to the CDC website.
Acanthamoeba disease (excluding keratitis)
Acquired immunodeficiency syndrome
Anaplasma phagocytophilum infection
Arboviral diseases, neuroinvasive and non-neuroinvasive
Arboviral encephalitis or meningitis
Balamuthia mandrillaris disease
California serogroup encephalitis
California serogroup encephalitis/meningitis
California serogroup virus diseases
Candida auris, colonization/screening
Candida auris, screening/surveillance
Carbapenemase Producing Carbapenem-Resistant Enterobacteriaceae (CP-CRE)
Chlamydia trachomatis infection
Chlamydia trachomatis, genital infections
Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19)
CP-CRE, Escherichia coli (E. coli)
Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever virus
Eastern equine encephalitis virus disease
Eastern equine encephalitis/meningitis
Ehrlichia chaffeensis infection
Encephalitis, postinfectious (or parainfectious)
Enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli
Haemophilus influenzae, invasive disease
Hantavirus infection, non-Hantavirus pulmonary syndrome
Hemolytic uremic syndrome, post-diarrheal
Hepatitis B, perinatal virus infection
Hepatitis C, Perinatal Infection
HIV infection (AIDS has been reclassified as HIV Stage III)
Human granulocytic ehrlichiosis
Influenza-associated hospitalizations
Influenza-associated pediatric mortality
Latent TB Infection (TB Infection)
Lead, elevated blood levels, adult (≥16 Years)
Naegleria fowleri causing primary amebic meningoencephalitis (PAM)
New World arenavirus – Guanarito virus
New World arenavirus – Junin virus
New World arenavirus – Machupo virus
New World arenavirus – Sabia virus
Novel influenza A virus infections
Other or unspecified human ehrlichiosis
Pesticide-related illness and injury, acute
Poliovirus infection, nonparalytic
Powassan encephalitis/meningitis
Respiratory Syncytial Virus-Associated Mortality (RSV-Associated Mortality)
Salmonella Typhi infection (Salmonella enterica serotype Typhi)
Severe acute respiratory syndrome-associated coronavirus disease
Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli
St. Louis encephalitis virus disease
St. Louis encephalitis/meningitis
Streptococcal toxic shock syndrome
Streptococcus disease, invasive, Group A
Streptococcus pneumoniae, drug-resistant invasive disease
Streptococcus pneumoniae, invasive disease
Streptococcus pneumoniae, invasive disease (child, <5 years)
Streptococcus pneumoniae, invasive disease non-drug resistant (child, <5 years)
Syphilis, early non-primary non-secondary
Syphilis, late, with clinical manifestations other than neurosyphilis
Syphilis, latent unknown duration
Syphilis, unknown duration or late
Toxic shock syndrome (other than streptococcal)
Undetermined human ehrlichiosis/anaplasmosis
Vancomycin-intermediate Staphylococcus aureus and Vancomycin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus
West Nile encephalitis/meningitis
Western equine encephalitis virus disease
Western equine encephalitis/meningitis
Zika virus disease and Zika virus infection
Zika virus disease, congenital
Zika virus disease, non-congenital
In early 2018 Nigeria experienced an unprecedented increase in Lassa fever cases with widespread geographic distribution. We report 77 Lassa virus genomes generated from patient samples, 14 from 2018, to investigate whether recent changes in the virus genome contributed to this surge. Our data argue that the surge is not attributable to a single Lassa virus variant, nor has it been sustained by human-to-human transmission. We observe extensive viral diversity structured by geography, with major rivers appearing to act as barriers to migration of the rodent reservoir. Together our results support that the 2018 Lassa fever surge was driven by crossspecies transmission from local rodent populations of multiple viral variants from different lineages.
Objective: Healthcare personnel (HCP) were recruited to provide serum samples, which were tested for antibodies against Ebola or Lassa virus to evaluate for asymptomatic seroconversion.
Setting: From 2014 to 2016, 4 patients with Ebola virus disease (EVD) and 1 patient with Lassa fever (LF) were treated in the Serious Communicable Diseases Unit (SCDU) at Emory University Hospital. Strict infection control and clinical biosafety practices were implemented to prevent nosocomial transmission of EVD or LF to HCP.
Participants: All personnel who entered the SCDU who were required to measure their temperatures and complete a symptom questionnaire twice daily were eligible.
Results: No employee developed symptomatic EVD or LF. EVD and LF antibody studies were performed on sera samples from 42 HCP. The 6 participants who had received investigational vaccination with a chimpanzee adenovirus type 3 vectored Ebola glycoprotein vaccine had high antibody titers to Ebola glycoprotein, but none had a response to Ebola nucleoprotein or VP40, or a response to LF antigens.
Conclusions: Patients infected with filoviruses and arenaviruses can be managed successfully without causing occupation-related symptomatic or asymptomatic infections. Meticulous attention to infection control and clinical biosafety practices by highly motivated, trained staff is critical to the safe care of patients with an infection from a special pathogen.
TARGET AUDIENCE
This accredited continuing education activity is intended primarily for healthcare workers and teams which may include but are not limited to, medical and nursing staff, administration, education/training leadership, and infection control leadership. Staff specializing in emergency management, communications, specialized clinical areas, laboratory, facilities management and environmental services are also welcome.
EDUCATIONAL OBJECTIVES
At the conclusion of this enduring material, the participant should be better able to:
REQUIREMENTS FOR SUCCESSFUL COMPLETION
In order to receive continuing education credit, you must complete these steps prior to the activity expiration date.
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]]>Viral Hemorrhagic Fevers (VHF) are a group of diseases caused by several families of viruses. The term VHF refers to an illness that can affect multiple organ systems and can be accompanied by fever, headache, vomiting, abdominal pain, diarrhea, and hemorrhage. VHFs addressed in this document include Crimean-Congo Hemorrhagic Fever (CCHF), Ebola Virus Disease (EVD), Lassa Fever, and Marburg Virus Disease (MVD).
All health care facilities are part of the frontline defense against the spread of disease, as patients will seek care in emergency departments, urgent care centers and clinics. Health care facility preparedness to care for patients with a VHF is essential to prevent transmission to staff, other patients, and our communities.
NETEC developed the Health Care Facility Viral Hemorrhagic Fever Preparedness Checklist to help health care facilities assess their readiness to identify, isolate, inform, and provide initial treatment for patients suspected or confirmed to have a VHF. This checklist is intended to guide facilities through a review of their immediate care capabilities and provide resources to assist in the resolution of preparedness gaps it reveals.
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Objectives
This summary on Lassa virus (LASV) infection and Lassa fever disease (LF) was developed from a clinical perspective to provide clinicians with a condensed, accessible understanding of the current literature. The information provided highlights pathogenesis, clinical features, and diagnostics emphasizing therapies and vaccines that have demonstrated potential value for use in clinical or research environments.
Methods
We conducted an integrative literature review on the clinical and pathological features, vaccines, and treatments for LASV infection, focusing on recent studies and in vivo evidence from humans and/or non-human primates (NHPs), when available.
Results
Two antiviral medications with potential benefit for the treatment of LASV infection and 1 for post-exposure prophylaxis were identified, although a larger number of therapeutic candidates are currently being evaluated. Multiple vaccine platforms are in pre-clinical development for LASV prevention, but data from human clinical trials are not yet available.
Conclusion
We provide succinct summaries of medical countermeasures against LASV to give the busy clinician a rapid reference. Although there are no approved drugs or vaccines for LF, we provide condensed information from a literature review for measures that can be taken when faced with a suspected infection, including investigational treatment options and hospital engineering controls.
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