The Health Ministry has called for a medical state of emergency to be declared in provinces along the Pacific coast and in interior jungle regions bordering Peru and Columbia. For travelers to Ecuador, The Medical Letter recommends malaria prophylaxis with mefloquine and precautions against mosquitoes. Lassa Fever imported to the UK from Sierra Leone Ref. Virological tests have confirmed the diagnosis of Lassa fever in a British national who had been working in rural Sierra Leone, and was evacuated to the UK after becoming ill. Lassa fever is a hemorrhagic fever caused by an arenavirus.
Rodents are the hosts.
Infection occurs through contact with rodent secretions or patient secretions. Typical symptoms are fever, headache, lethargy, muscular pains and rash. Dengue in Indonesia and Paraguay Ref. ProMED, March 10 and 11, 2000. An outbreak of dengue fever has been reported in Jakarta, Indonesia.