GS Paper 2:
Topics Covered: Issues related to Health.
Context:
One of the three persons diagnosed with Lassa fever in the UK has died on February 11. The cases have been linked to travel to west African countries.
What is Lassa?
The Lassa virus is named after a town in Nigeria where the first cases were discovered in 1969.
The disease is primarily found in countries in West Africa including Sierra Leone, Liberia, Guinea, and Nigeria where it is endemic.
Spread:
- The fever is spread by rats.
- Person-to-person transmission is also possible.
Symptoms:
- Mild symptoms include slight fever, fatigue, weakness and headache and more serious symptoms include bleeding, difficulty breathing, vomiting, facial swelling, pain in the chest, back, and abdomen and shock.
- The most common complication associated with the fever is deafness.
- The death rate associated with this disease is low, at around one per cent. But the death rate is higher for certain individuals, such as pregnant women in their third trimester.
Prevention:
The best way to avoid getting infected is to avoid contact with rats.
How to deal with such pandemics/epidemics?
The international community should work together “towards a new international treaty for pandemic preparedness and response” to build a more robust global health architecture that will protect future generations.
Insta Curious:
The WHO Hub for Pandemic and Epidemic Intelligence will be a global platform for pandemic and epidemic intelligence, creating shared and networked access to vital multi-sectoral data, driving innovations in data analytics and building the communities of practice needed to predict, prevent, detect, prepare for and respond to worldwide health threats.
InstaLinks:
Prelims Link:
- About the Virus.
- Spread.
- Transmission.
- Symptoms.
Sources: Indian Express.
