Conference Abstract | Volume 8, Abstract ELIC2025355 (Oral 049) | Published: 13 Aug 2025
Qudus Olajide Lawal1, Xavier Enodiana1, Joseph Okoeguale1, Reuben Eifediyi1, Till Omansen2, Sylvanus Okogbenin1,&
1Irrua Specialist Teaching Hospital, Edo State, Nigeria, 2Bernhard Nocht Institute for Tropical Medicine, Hamburg, Germany
&Corresponding author: Sylvanus Okogbenin, Irrua Specialist Teaching Hospital, Edo State, Nigeria, Email: okogbenins@yahoo.com
Received: 17 May 2025, Accepted: 09 Jul 2025, Published: 13 Aug 2025
Domain: Infectious Disease Epidemiology
Keywords: Viral Haemorrhagic fever, Lassa fever, Ribavirin, Pregnancy Outcome
©Qudus Olajide Lawal et 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: Qudus Olajide Lawal et al., Lassa Fever in pregnancy: outcomes and management approaches at ISTH. Journal of Interventional Epidemiology and Public Health. 2025;8(ConfProc5):00049. https://doi.org/10.37432/JIEPH-CONFPRO5-00049
Lassa fever in Pregnancy is associated with high maternal and perinatal mortality. Despite WHO prioritization of Lassa fever for therapeutic and vaccine development in 2018, pregnant women are often excluded from trials due to ethical concerns on safety and limited preclinical safety data. This creates a critical evidence gap. In the absence of clinical data, management relies on expert opinion from endemic regions, forming the basis of National and WHO guidelines. Documenting these experiences is essential to guide future research and trial design. This study presents outcomes and management strategies for Lassa fever in pregnancy at Irrua Specialist Teaching Hospital (ISTH) during the 2023/2024 epidemic.
Out of 236 admitted patients, seven were pregnant. Mothers mean age was 30.1 ± 6.2 years and median parity three. Two patients presented in postpartum period and one presented at 6 weeks while four presented between 22 and 29 weeks. All patients had Fever. 28% had bleeding while 42.9% had “breast signs”(Pain& engorgement). Other common symptoms included headache, weakness, cough, abdominal pain and vomiting. All patients received ribavirin injection and broadspectrum antibiotic. Dexamethasone was given for fetal lung maturity and intensive maternal-fetal monitoring was done for all patients with viable fetuses. Five patients received blood transfusions. All seven mothers survived, two patients with non-viable fetuses underwent timely evacuation. Three women delivered live babies with one preterm infant experiencing early neonatal death. The two postpartum babies survived.
While Maternal outcomes were favorable, the small sample limits interpretation. Perinatal mortality remains significant despite intensive management. The role of ribavirin and the potential benefit of dexamethasone warrant further evaluation. Anemia and blood loss led to high transfusion rate.
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