EXPERTS at the 2023 Future of Health conference organised by Nigeria Health Watch in Lagos have described Lassa fever as a neglected disease that is fast spreading across West Africa, causing more deaths of pregnant women and children in parts of the region where more deadly strains of the virus now circulate.
They said hundreds of millions of people stand to benefit from the protection of a vaccine or other medical countermeasures, with the private sector ramping up support for investments in testing, expanded points of care and vaccination against the disease.
Alash’le Abimiku, a professor of virology at the Institute of Virology Nigeria, said the Lassa fever epidemic has come to stay, adding that its incidence is rising across West Africa, where it has continued to spread in the last few years, thus necessitating an effective vaccine along with other interventions.
She said three vaccine candidates for Lassa fever have currently been tested and have been shown to be safe.
“We’re at a stage now where it’s been tested in our populations, and certainly in Ghana and Liberia. They are showing promise that they are safe. They are showing the kind of immune responses that we expect to see to gain protection. However, with most vaccine clinical trials, you’ve got to go to a larger population to show that it can protect,” she said.
Professor Abimiku, however, said more studies still need to be undertaken to understand the spread of the virus, the associated risks in terms of exposure and the populations that will need to be vaccinated to demonstrate the importance of the vaccine.
Chief Physician at the Lassa ward in Kenema Government Hospital, Sierra Leone, Dr Donald Grant, said Lassa fever is one of the diseases that can mimic many febrile illnesses like malaria and typhoid, although the variability in the circulating strain determines the number of cases and associated deaths across the West African subregion.
He said while more Lassa fever cases are seen and fewer deaths recorded in Nigeria, the situation in Sierra Leone is different, as fewer cases are seen but a high mortality recorded, possibly due to the strain circulating in the country.
“Initially, we talk of Lassa fever only in a few countries like Sierra Leone, Guinea, Liberia, and then Nigeria. But we’ve been seeing a spread into new countries like Mali, Togo, Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire. So, this calls for an alarm to do more.
“We are talking about 80 percent of cases being asymptomatic. These are people who are serologically positive for Lassa fever without even knowing it. Samples were drawn from areas that we’ve never drawn cases from. So, this is also alarming.
“The private sector can come in and work with the research institutions so that we can study more about this disease, which has one of the highest mortality rates when it comes to pregnant women and children,” he said.
Dr Grant also called for private sector involvement in the production and subsidization of the Lassa fever vaccine to ensure accessibility and affordability.
He added, “So it’s important that Lassa be prioritised. This is also in alignment with the WHO blueprint, which looks at prioritising Lassa fever and its socioeconomic impact. Again, we don’t need to wait. And so, having such a vaccine is really critical and can serve as a template for orders.”
