Lassa fever natural history, complications and prognosis
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Editor-In-Chief: C. Michael Gibson, M.S., M.D. [1]
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Overview
The most common complication of Lassa fever is deafness. Various degrees of deafness occur in approximately one-third of cases, and in many cases hearing loss is permanent. As far as is known, severity of the disease does not affect this complication: deafness may develop in mild as well as in severe cases. Spontaneous abortion is another serious complication. Approximately 15%-20% of patients hospitalized for Lassa fever die from the illness. However, overall only about 1% of infections with Lassa virus result in death. During epidemics mortality can climb as high as 50%. The mortality rates are particularly high for women (greater than 80%) in the third trimester of pregnancy, and for fetuses, about 95% of which die in the uterus of infected pregnant mothers. The fever accounts for up to one third of deaths in hospitals within the affected regions and 10 to 16% of total cases.