title: Lassa fever - full recovery without ribavarin treatment: a case report.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Lassa fever is a rodent-borne zoonosis that clinically manifests as an acute hemorrhagic fever. It is treated using ribavarin. Surviving Lassa fever without receiving the antiviral drug ribavarin is rare. Only few cases have been documented to date.
  
  
  METHODS
  We report a case of a 59-year old female with fever who was initially thought to have acute pyelonephritis and sepsis syndrome with background malaria. Further changes in her clinical state and laboratory tests led to a suspicion of Lassa fever. However at the time her laboratory confirmatory test for Lassa fever returned, her clinical state had improved and she made full recovery without receiving ribavarin. Her close contacts showed no evidence of Lassa virus infection.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This report adds to the literature on the natural history of Lassa fever; and that individuals may survive Lassa fever with conservative management of symptoms of the disease and its complications.
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, Federal Teaching Hospital Abakaliki, Ebonyi State, Nigeria.
authors.forename: Nnennaya A
authors.initials: NA
authors.lastname: Ajayi
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, Federal Teaching Hospital Abakaliki, Ebonyi State, Nigeria.
authors.forename: Kingsley N
authors.initials: KN
authors.lastname: Ukwaja
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, Federal Teaching Hospital Abakaliki, Ebonyi State, Nigeria.
authors.forename: Ngozi A
authors.initials: NA
authors.lastname: Ifebunandu
authors.affiliation: Department of Community Medicine, Federal Teaching Hospital Abakaliki, Ebonyi State, Nigeria.
authors.forename: Richard
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Nnabu
authors.affiliation: Department of Community Medicine, Federal Teaching Hospital Abakaliki, Ebonyi State, Nigeria ; Epidemiology Unit, Ministry of Health, Ebonyi State, Nigeria.
authors.forename: Francis I
authors.initials: FI
authors.lastname: Onwe
authors.affiliation: Institute of Lassa Fever Research and Control, Irrua Specialist Teaching Hospital, Edo State, Nigeria.
authors.forename: Danny A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Asogun
mesh_terms: D000998:Antiviral Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use; D017809:Fatal Outcome; D005260:Female; D005334:Fever / Q000209:etiology; D006801:Humans; D007835:Lassa Fever / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000401:mortality; D007836:Lassa virus / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D012367:RNA, Viral / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D000998:Antiviral Agents; D012367:RNA, Viral
keywords: Lassa fever; ribavarin; survival; viral hemorrhagic fever
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