Nosocomial Outbreak of Lassa Fever in Conakry, Guinea, 2022.
The Journal of infectious diseases·
- DOI
- 10.1093/infdis/jiag229
- PMID
- 42019948
- PMCID
- PMC13537155
- OpenAlex
- —
- Study type
- Journal article
- Publisher
- Publisher unavailable
- Article type
- journal-article
- Integrity
- current
Why this research matters now
The abstract frames the outbreak as evidence that healthcare facilities in areas considered lower risk may still face nosocomial Lassa virus transmission in the context of human movement. It also emphasizes the operational relevance of rapid diagnostics, genomic analysis, and ecological investigation for outbreak response.
Structured evidence summary
Research question
The article addresses a Lassa fever outbreak in Conakry, Guinea, including case confirmation, transmission investigation, viral genomic analysis, and reservoir assessment.
Study design
This was an outbreak investigation using laboratory confirmation by real-time RT-PCR, follow-up of viremia during hospitalization, in-country whole-genome sequencing, epidemiologic tracing, and rodent testing linked to the suspected primary case.
Population and setting
The setting was a private clinic in Conakry, Guinea, with most confirmed cases occurring among healthcare workers. The investigation also considered the suspected primary case's travel history from the Kissidougou area and rodent testing in the home village.
Main findings
Six cases were laboratory confirmed, including five healthcare workers, and the reported case fatality rate was 16.7%. Viral RNA persisted in survivors' blood for a median of 26 days after disease onset, and recovered viral genomes from secondary cases were highly similar and grouped with central Guinea genomes. Rodent testing indicated an additional reservoir area in eastern-central Guinea.
Public-health relevance
The abstract frames the outbreak as evidence that healthcare facilities in areas considered lower risk may still face nosocomial Lassa virus transmission in the context of human movement. It also emphasizes the operational relevance of rapid diagnostics, genomic analysis, and ecological investigation for outbreak response.
Important limitations
The abstract describes a small outbreak with six confirmed cases, which limits the breadth of inference from the reported findings. This summary is also limited to the supplied single-article abstract and metadata; the full paper would be needed for decision-grade interpretation.
GIDS interpretation
The classifier links make this article discoverable under Lassa, Guinea, and outbreak investigation. In editorial context, it is relevant as a peer-reviewed journal article on a nosocomial Lassa fever outbreak investigation in Guinea, without implying any connection to live surveillance data.
Related GIDS surveillance
Literature context does not validate, explain, or change a surveillance signal. Exact and contextual relationships are shown separately.
Evidence relationships
This article has 5 auditable classifier relationships to diseases, places, topics, and study design.