Thread by @runciecwc

Dr Aniru Conteh, an expert in treatment & research in LASSA FEVER, got the virus when he received a needle injury while drawing blood from a pregnant patient.

This day 04/04/04, we lost this hero who spent 25yrs in saving thousands of lives from LASSA FEVER.
#LassaFever #COVID19

Conteh spent his professional career working with people with Lassa fever, a viral hemorrhagic fever endemic to West Africa. Lassa fever was first brought to the attention of the public in 1969 during an outbreak in Nigeria.

Lassa fever, also known as Lassa hemorrhagic fever (LHF), is a type of viral hemorrhagic fever caused by the Lassa virus. Many of those infected by the virus do not develop symptoms. When symptoms occur they typically include fever, weakness, headaches, vomiting, and muscle pains

There is no vaccine for Lassa Fever. Prevention requires isolating those who are infected and decreasing contact with the mice just like #COVID19. Treatment is directed at addressing dehydration and improving symptoms.

Descriptions of the disease date from the 1950s. The virus was first described in 1969 from a case in the town of Lassa, in Borno State, Nigeria. #Lassafever is relatively common in West Africa including the countries of Nigeria, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Guinea, and Ghana.

There are about 300,000 to 500,000 cases which result in 5,000 deaths a year.

In 1979, Conteh began working with the @CDCgov at the Nixon Methodist Hospital in Segbwema. Conteh became Medical Superintendent of the hospital in 1980. The Sierra Leone Civil War broke out in 1991, forcing the @CDCgov to close their program and move to Guinea. #LassaFever

The hospital was destroyed in the conflict and the spread of Lassa fever grew worse. During the civil war, the Natal multimammate mouse infested abandoned houses, increasing the likelihood of infection. #LassaFever #COVID19

Conteh now found himself in the middle of a war zone, starving & homeless. He wandered about for several months and finally came to Kenema where he began treating the sick in the midst of the fighting. #LassaFever #COVID19

During the civil war, Conteh was the only clinician in Sierra Leone who had the skills and qualifications to manage patients with Lassa fever. In the absence of the @CDCgov the Lassa ward was supported by Merlin, a medical relief agency based in the UK.

Nicholas Mellor, co-founder of Merlin, said "Conteh worked with Merlin to get a new laboratory built that would enable collaboration with international research centres with an interest in haemorrhagic diseases. He also worked on training and Lassa fever awareness campaigns.

Conteh's Lassa fever program "provided the blueprint for many experts". In 1996, Daniel Bausch at the Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine began working with Conteh and the CDC on research related to Lassa fever.

In 2000, Conteh coauthored a study published in the Journal of Clinical Microbiology comparing the efficacy and outcome of diagnosing Lassa fever patients with the indirect fluorescent-antibody (IFA) test and the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). #COVID19 #LassaFever

In 2001, Conteh travelled to London to attend an international conference on Lassa fever where he presented a paper on managing the disease. Conteh returned to London in 2003 to receive "Spirit of Merlin" award for his outstanding role in "saving lives and alleviating suffering.

The Lassa ward was short-staffed, and Conteh would often draw blood from people himself. On 17 March 2004, Conteh was infected with the Lassa virus when he received a needlestick injury while drawing blood from a young pregnant nurse with the disease.
#LassaFever #COVID19

The nurse died next day & Conteh became ill on 23 March. His condition worsened, he was treated with intravenous ribavirin. He initially survived the critical stage of Lassa fever, but died on 4 April from renal failure—18 days after first becoming infected with the Lassa virus.

News of his death spread in Kenema and its environs. Most people were devastated to learn that the only Lassa Fever specialist in Sierra Leone was gone, gone forever. Nurses cried, patients wept. Kenema was thrown into a state of shock and mourning.

Conteh's work in the Lassa ward spanned 25 years and saved thousands of lives. He played a key role in helping Merlin implement a program to support the Lassa ward and fever control measures in Sierra Leone.

Because of his skill and dedication, deaths due to cases of suspected Lassa fever declined by 20%. After Conteh's death, Merlin and the peacekeepers in the United Nations Mission in Sierra Leone (UNAMSIL) left Sierra Leone and the Lassa ward in Kenema was barely functioning.

In 2004, Tulane University, in co-ordination with the World Health Organization, began monitoring Lassa fever patients in Sierra Leone, Liberia, and Guinea through the Mano River Union Lassa Fever Network (MRU-LFN).

Today, the Lassa Fever Program is fully operational at Kenema Government Hospital, and focuses on "treatment, containment, prevention and research"
Conteh was the mentor for UCLA medical professor Ross Donaldson in the summer of 2003, and is the hero of Donaldson's 2009 memoir.

As we are fighting #COVID19 , let's not forget Doctors, Nurses & Scientists who placed their lives in line and continued to do so. Let's celebrate them!

#LassaFever Hero
#CelebratingDoctors
#CelebratingHealthWorkers
#StayAtHomeSaveLives