Marissa S. is a patient that has been infected with Lassa fever. She is a 27 year old Caucasian female. She lives in Borno State, West Africa. She is a stay at home mom with a 26 year old husband (Mark S.) and a 3 year old daughter (Mattie S). Her husband is a physician at Nawoka Hospital. Marissa has lived in Borno State for four years and has never had any serious health problems. She moved to Borno State from America in 2007, right after her and her husband got married. Marissa lives in a highly infested Mastomys location. After she admitted herself into Nawoka Hospital there were many theories about coming into contact with Mastomys or Mastomys contaminated objects. Marissa claims to have never been around anyone that was infected with Lassa, so that automatically ruled out that possibility. Although Marissa’s small house is tidy and kept closed off, she keeps a garden in her yard and often times eats the food from it. Gardens are very common ways to attract Mastomys.
After Marissa had high fevers, sore throat, and vomiting for about a week she went to seek help at the hospital her husband worked at, Nawoka Hospital. When Marissa walked into the hospital her face was very pale and usually a beautiful young woman was broken down. While walking over to the receptionist’s desk, she was having trouble holding herself up. After she started describing her condition and symptoms she vomited in her mouth and was immediately sent back to a room in the hospital. After her doctor came in he took samples of her blood. She waited in the hospital until the results came back. The doctor looked devastated when he walked in and he told his patient that she was infected with Lassa fever. Being very well off, Marissa could afford the best cures available. An antiviral drug for RNA and DNA viruses is available for patients who are in the early course of viral hemorrhagic fevers. The cure of the patient is almost guaranteed, but there is still a small chance remaining that the medicine would do nothing.
After calling in for Ribavirin, an 800 mg-1200 mg. pill that was expected to cure Lassa, Marissa started to take the treatment and was told she had to keep taking this pill for 24 to 48 weeks with periodic blood testing to see if the cure was working. After Marissa started taking Ribavirin, the symptoms of Lassa fever started to disappear. Hemolytic anemia is a rare side affect of Ribavirin and did not occur at all in the case of Marissa S.
1 year late, Marissa S. was checked on because her term of taking Ribavirin was complete. After testing her blood, Lassa fever was not found at all. Marissa S. was fully recovered from Lassa fever. Her husband and daughter were not infected with Lassa fever. Marissa and her family will still continue to live in Borno State, West Africa. Marissa admits that she will be making a huge change. Her and her husband will be building a green house for their garden and will make sure it is completely closed off from the Mastomys rodent. The cause of Marissa’s Lassa fever infection was not fully determined, but it is positive that the Mastomy’s rodent was involved.
