TY - JOUR T1 - Pulmonary manifestation of lassa fever and the impact on mortality JF - European Respiratory Journal JO - Eur Respir J VL - 40 IS - Suppl 56 SP - P563 AU - Peter Okokhere AU - Johnson Ugheoke AU - Cyril Erameh Y1 - 2012/09/01 UR - http://erj.ersjournals.com/content/40/Suppl_56/P563.abstract N2 - Background: Lassa fever is associated with multi-systemic clinical disease in severe cases, with consequent increase in mortality. The respiratory system has been shown, both clinically and pathologically, to be involved. However, there is little information on the impact of this on mortality. This study aims to determine the impact of pulmonary involvement on mortality.Materials and methods: The medical records of 65 RT-PCR confirmed cases of Lassa fever patients with respiratory symptoms (cough and/ or breathlessness) admitted to the medical wards of our hospital between January 2009 and February 2011 were reviewed. There were 34 males and 31 females. Of the 65 patients, 10 had both physical and chest x-ray features of pulmonary involvement. Case fatality rates (CFR) were compared between the sub-groups of patients with, and those without pulmonary involvement. Significance level was set at P value < 0.05.Results: The pulmonary features were pneumonia (5); pneumonia with pleural effusion (3); ARDS (2). Among the 10 patients with pulmonary involvement, 7 died, giving a CFR of 70%, while with the group without pulmonary involvement 21 died out of 55, with a CFR of 38.2%.(p= 0.086; Odds ratio 0.26; 0.04-1.34(2-tailed Fisher exact)). Over all CFR was 44.6% (29/65).Conclusion: Lassa fever with respiratory features is associated with high CFR, especially when the lungs and pleura are involved.Key words: Lassa fever, pulmonary involvement, mortality. ER -