Artikel
Risk assessment and management of possible transmission of Lassa virus during two flights
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Veröffentlicht: | 6. September 2007 |
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Objectives: Since the emergence of Lassa fever, reports of about 25 patients who imported Lassa virus to Europe, US or Canada have been published. More than 1,200 contacts were ascertained in these events and all remained pathogen free. On July 10th a person (patient) who flew from Freetown (Sierra Leone) to Frankfurt (Germany) via Brussels (Belgium) tested Lassa positive nine days after arrival in Germany. A risk assessment was conducted to guide the decision on a co-passenger trace back.
Methods: During the two flights the patient had no cough but a urinary tract catheter which was disconnected from the reservoir and released relevant amounts of urine on the passenger’s seat. The patient’s urine was tested positive for Lassa virus, which was taken into account for the risk assessment and contributed to the decision to trace back co-passengers potentially exposed.
The passengers at risk were defined as those sitting in maximum three rows distance from the patient. 92 passengers from nine countries were identified.
Results: In EU countries 29 (66%) of 44 contact passengers, in European non EU countries 7 (68%) of 9 passengers were traceable and from non European countries 0 of 27 passengers were traceable. Overall 62.4% of the contacts were traceable. Only one of the traced contacts developed symptoms but revealed to be Lassa negative.
Conclusion: In this investigation, the leakage from the urinary catheter reservoir influenced the risk assessment and the decision for a passenger trace back as Lassa fever is primarily transmitted by urine of rats. Nevertheless, no contact passenger revealed Lassa virus. Our investigation confirms that the human to human transmission of Lassa virus during flights is unlikely if no haemorrhagic symptoms appear at this time. Tracing back co-passengers remains a challenge internationally and stresses the need for an early voluntary implementation of the revised international health regulation.