Conference Abstract | Volume 8, Abstract ELIC2025450 (Poster 010) | Published:  25 Jul 2025

Investigation of a cross-border case of Lassa fever in West Africa

Mory Keïta1, Georges Alfred Kizerbo2, Lorenzo Subissi3, Fodé Amara Traoré4,&, Ahmadou Doré5, Mohamed Fode Camara5, Ahmadou Barry2, Raymond Pallawo2, Mamadou Oury Baldé2, Nfaly Magassouba4,5, Mamoudou Harouna Djingarey1, Ibrahima Socé Fall1

1Organisation Mondiale de la Santé – Bureau Régional de l’Afrique, Brazzaville, Congo, 2Organisation Mondiale de la Santé – Bureau de Pays de la Guinée, Conakry, Guinea, 3Sciensano, 1050 Ixelles, Brussels, Belgium, 4Université Gamal Abdel Nasser, Faculté des Sciences et Techniques de la Santé, Conakry, Guinea, 5Université Gamal Abdel Nasser, Laboratoire

&Corresponding author: Fodé Amara Traoré, Institut National de Santé Publique de Guinée, Email:  f_a_traore@yahoo.com

Received: 25 Mar 2025, Accepted: 9 Jun 2025, Published: 25 Jul 2025

Domain: Infectious Disease Epidemiology

This is part of the Proceedings of the ECOWAS 2nd Lassa fever International Conference in Abidjan, September 8 – 11, 2025

Keywords: Lassa fever, Cross-border, Outbreak investigation, Guinea, Liberia, West Africa

©Mory Keïtaet al Journal of Interventional Epidemiology and Public Health (ISSN: 2664-2824). This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution International 4.0 License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Cite this article: Mory Keïta et al Investigation of a cross-border case of Lassa fever in West Africa. Journal of Interventional Epidemiology and Public Health. 2025;8(ConfProc5):00154. https://doi.org/10.37432/JIEPH-CONFPRO5-00154

Introduction

Infectious disease prevention and control strategies require a coordinated, transnational approach. To establish core capacities of the International Health Regulations (IHR), the World Health Organization (WHO) developed the Integrated Diseases Surveillance and Response (IDSR) strategy. Epidemic-prone Lassa fever, caused by Lassa virus, is an endemic disease in the West African countries of Ghana, Guinea, Mali, Benin, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Togo and Nigeria. It’s one of the major public health threats in these countries. Here it is reported an epidemiological investigation of a cross-border case of Lassa fever, which demonstrated the importance of strengthened capacities of IHR and IDSR.

Case Presentation

On January 9th, 2018 a 35-year-old Guinean woman with fever, neck pain, body pain, and vomiting went to a hospital in Ganta, Liberia. Over the course of her illness, the case visited various health care facilities in both Liberia and Guinea. A sample collected on January 10th was tested positive for Lassa virus by RT-PCR in a Liberian laboratory. The Guinean Ministry of Health (MoH) was officially informed by WHO Country Office for Guinea and for Liberia.

Conclusion

This case report revealed how an epidemic-prone disease such as Lassa fever can rapidly spread across land borders and how such threat can be quickly controlled with communication and collaboration within the IHR framework.

 
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Keywords

  • Lassa fever
  • Cross-border
  • Outbreak investigation
  • Guinea
  • Liberia
  • West Africa
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