Lassa fever patient dies at Bedfordshire hospital in UK
February 12, 2022, 8:23 am

Lassa fever patient dies at Bedfordshire hospital in UK

London Bridge Hospital/Pixabay

The BBC reported, East of England hospital trust has confirmed, a person being treated for Lassa fever in the hospital has died.

The patient died at Luton and Dunstable Hospital, run by the Bedfordshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.

The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) said the person who died was being treated for the animal-borne disease, which is endemic in parts of West Africa.

It said the risk to the public was "very low".

The death comes as the third case of Lassa fever was identified in the UK in the last few days.

Dr Susan Hopkins, chief medical adviser at UKHSA, said that all three cases were within the same family and were linked to recent travel to West Africa.

The cases are the first of the disease to be confirmed in the UK in more than a decade.

NHS East of England has now declared a "regional major incident".

The BBC understands this is because two of the patients were treated at Addenbrooke's Hospital in Cambridge before being transferred to a London hospital.

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In a statement, the NHS said: "UKHSA advice is that some staff at the hospitals where the patients have been treated may need to undergo testing and wear more personal protective equipment (PPE) than normal.

"Staff in direct contact with confirmed cases will have to self-isolate for a period of time. This is standard procedure and precautionary only.

"Because of the impact this will have on staffing key services in our region, we have declared a regional major incident. This allows the region's healthcare systems to work together to keep services running safely."

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Before the three recent cases, eight cases of Lassa fever had been identified in the UK since 1980.

The recent cases are the first of the disease to be confirmed in the UK since 2009.

Source: BBC

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On Wednesday, NATO congratulated Trump on his victory but did not address the Ukrainian issue.

It is noteworthy that the relationship between the elected U.S. president and the defense alliance was not the best during his first term in the White House. Trump criticized NATO member states multiple times and even hinted at withdrawing from the alliance unless they increased their financial contributions.

Additionally, the issue of the Russian-Ukrainian war is one of the matters that complicate relations between the two sides, especially since Trump has repeatedly stated that he can end this ongoing conflict, which began in 2022, quickly. He implied that he had a peace plan between Kyiv and Moscow, while his vice president, JD Vance, revealed aspects of that plan, which stipulated Ukraine's commitment not to join NATO, thereby sending reassuring signals to the Russians.

Furthermore, many NATO member states in Europe fear that Trump might halt military aid to Ukraine after he previously criticized the U.S. for pouring funds into supporting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.