All clear Lassa suspicion in Dusseldorf has not been confirmed

Preliminary all-clear in Dusseldorf: Lassa suspicion not confirmed
On Saturday, a man with suspected Lassa fever in the Düsseldorf University Hospital was recorded. It has now been announced that an analyzed blood sample has failed. In nearby Cologne, a patient had previously died of tropical Lassa fever.

Patient "under highest safety conditions"
On Saturday, a 47-year-old man was admitted under suspicion of a Lassa fever infection on a special isolation ward of the University of Dusseldorf. According to a report from the university hospital, he was a contact person of the Lassa patient, who recently died in Cologne. It said: "He will be treated under the highest safety conditions in the ward, which was built specifically for highly contagious, potentially life-threatening diseases." Lassa is usually found in several countries in West Africa, occurred in Germany, according to the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) In 1974, only five imported cases of illness. Now another came.

The suspicion of an infection with the Lassa virus in a patient in Dusseldorf has not been confirmed. (Image: decade3d / fotolia.com)

Disease did not confirm itself in the first examination
According to a report by the news agency dpa, the suspicion of a lassa fever disease in the patient in Dusseldorf in the first review has not been confirmed. A spokeswoman for the Dusseldorf University Hospital announced on Sunday that the blood sample analyzed by the Bernhard Nocht Institute for Tropical Medicine (BNITM) in Hamburg was negative with respect to Lassa. According to an earlier communication from the BNITM, diagnostics are "carried out by virus detection in the blood, urine and other clinical material during the acute phase of the disease or the detection of specific antibodies". According to the information, a second sample will be taken and analyzed on Monday morning.

Low risk of further infections
According to the clinic, the man who had contact with the American who died a few days ago after a Lassa infection in Cologne will remain in strict isolation until the result is known. The Düsseldorf fire department had brought the patient from Dortmund according to their own information with a special vehicle and in a convoy with police protection from Dortmund to Dusseldorf. The transport was made by specially trained emergency services. Health experts had pointed out after the Cologne case that they consider the risk of further infections to be very low. (Ad)