150 people possibly came into contact with man who died of Lassa fever, CDC says

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Thursday that federal and state health officials identified more than 150 people who may have came into contact with a patient who died of Lassa fever.

CDC spokesman Benjamin Haynes said in a statement most of those people face no danger, but at least six are at a high risk of having been exposed to the disease. About 33 others are at low risk. All of them are being monitored, Haynes said.

A New Jersey man died Monday after traveling in West Africa and returning to Kennedy Airport in New York May 17.

Eight of the people being monitored by health officials were on the Royal Air Maroc flight that the victim boarded in Morocco after flying from Monrovia, Libera, a government official with knowledge of the investigation told The Associated Pres.

The man did not have symptoms of the virus while on the plan, officials said. But he developed a sore throat and lethargy later and went to the hospital.

University Hospital in Newark said Tuesday the man was transferred there Saturday from another hospital because it could deal with viral hemorrhagic fevers. The hospital is reviewing whether any of its employees were at risk of exposure to the virus.

Saint Barnabas Medical Center in Livingston said in a statement Wednesday that the 55-year-old man came into the emergency room May 18 and was treated and released. The man returned three days later with a sore throat, fever and tiredness and was later transferred to University Hospital.

Lassa fever is less likely to be fatal than Ebola and does not spread through casual contact but rather through contact with the blood, feces or vomit of an infected person, or the urine or droppings of infected rodents.

Lassa fever was named after a Nigerian town where Western-trained doctors first noted it in 1969. An estimated 100,000 to 300,000 infections occur in West Africa each year, including about 5,000 deaths. In some areas of Sierra Leone and Liberia, 10 to 15 percent of people admitted to hospitals every year have Lassa fever.

The disease can cause a wide range of symptoms, including sore throat, back and abdominal pain, facial swelling, vomiting, hearing loss and tremors.

The Associated Press contributed to this report