Aseptic Meningitis Caused by Lassa Virus: Case Series Report

Abstract

The Lassa virus is known to cause disease in different organ systems of the human body, with varying clinical manifestations. The features of severe clinical disease may include bleeding and/or central nervous system manifestations. Whereas Lassa fever encephalopathy and encephalitis are well described in the literature, there is paucity of data on Lassa virus meningitis. We present the clinical description, laboratory diagnosis, and management of 4 consecutive cases of aseptic meningitis associated with Lassa virus infection without bleeding seen in a region of Nigeria known to be endemic for both the reservoir rodent and Lassa fever. The 4 patients recovered fully following intravenous ribavirin treatment and suffered no neurologic complications.