The Iowa Department of Health and Human Services on Monday confirmed the death of a middle-aged eastern Iowa resident from Lassa fever. The individual had recently returned from travel to West Africa, where it is believed the person contracted the virus, the state health department said. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is working to confirm the diagnosis of Lassa fever, the state health department said. The CDC said it assesses the risk to the general public to be extremely low. Lassa fever is a viral disease common in West Africa, but rarely seen in the United States. There have been eight travel-associated cases of Lassa fever in the United States in the past 55 years, according to the Iowa health department. In West Africa, the Lassa virus is carried by rodents and spread to humans through contact with urine or droppings of infected rodents. About 100,000 to 300,000 cases of Lassa fever and 5,000 related deaths occur in West Africa each year, according to the CDC.
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