The Ghana Health Service (GHS) has confirmed that 12 more cases of Lassa Fever have been recorded in the country.
This discovery came after the Ghana Health Service tracked down 56 people who had been in contact with the initial two cases that were confirmed on February 26, 2023.
The total number of active cases in Ghana has now risen to 13, and one person has died from the disease.
Lassa fever is an Acute Viral Haemorrhagic Fever illness which is endemic to West Africa with an incubation period of 6–21 days.
Symptoms include fever, weakness, headache, vomiting, and abdominal pain. It is transmitted through contact with contaminated rodent excreta, as well as person-to-person and in hospitals lacking infection control.
The multi-mammate rat is the virus reservoir. Lassa fever is endemic in Benin, Guinea, Liberia, Mali, Sierra Leone, Nigeria, and possibly other West African countries.
Ghana had its first confirmed case in 2011 with subsequent outbreaks in two districts.