Man severely ill with Lassa fever being treated at University Hospital Frankfurt

[unhappycamper]

http://www.dw.com/en/man-severely-ill-with-lassa-fever-being-treated-at-university-hospital-frankfurt/a-19122900

An undertaker in Germany has become the first person to contract Lassa fever outside of Africa. The man had contact with another patient, who died of Lassa fever in February in Cologne.

Man severely ill with Lassa fever being treated at University Hospital Frankfurt
17.03.2016

A blood test has confirmed the first new case of Lassa fever, an acute viral hemorrhagic illness, in Germany. The patient from Alzey in the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate works at an undertaker's. He is being monitored on a special isolation ward at the University Hospital Frankfurt.

His doctors say his condition is serious.

"The patient shows signs of a severe viral condition," says chief resident doctor Timo Wolf.

But the specialist says he is optimistic the patient will recover as his condition was diagnosed early. The hospital says the patient is being treated with the drug Ribavirin, which inhibits the spread of viruses in the body.