Health Alerts

On Nov 28 both the WHO and ECDC published summaries with more details on the Lassa fever infections contracted last month by healthcare workers in Northern province’s Tonkolili district. One of the recommendations from the ECDC’s Rapid Risk Assessment is for travellers to Sierra Leone to seek advice on Lassa fever prior to departure. The risk of infection is considered greater during the dry season (Nov-Apr) and more so for people who are visiting family and friends in rural areas than for tourists or business travellers. Advice includes avoiding ‘consumption of food and drink which may have been contaminated with rodent droppings, exposure to rodents or dust contaminated by rodents or to people presenting with haemorrhagic fever’. Read more.