Günther Stephan, Lenz Oliver
Department of Virology, Bernhard-Nocht-Institute of Tropical Medicine, Hamburg, Germany.
Crit Rev Clin Lab Sci. 2004;41(4):339-90. doi: 10.1080/10408360490497456.
Lassa virus is a RNA virus belonging to the family of Arenaviridae. It was discovered as the causative agent of a hemorrhagic fever--Lassa fever--about 30 years ago. Lassa fever is endemic in West Africa and is estimated to affect some 100,000 people annually. Great progress in the understanding of the life cycle of arenaviruses, including Lassa virus, has been made in recent years. New insights have been gained in the pathogenesis and molecular epidemiology of Lassa fever, and state-of the-art technologies for diagnosing this life-threatening disease have been developed. The intention of this review is to summarize in particular the recent literature on Lassa virus and Lassa fever. Several aspects ranging from basic research up to clinical practice and laboratory diagnosis are discussed and linked together.
拉沙病毒是一种属于沙粒病毒科的RNA病毒。大约30年前，它被发现是一种出血热——拉沙热的病原体。拉沙热在西非流行，据估计每年约有10万人受到影响。近年来，在对包括拉沙病毒在内的沙粒病毒生命周期的理解方面取得了巨大进展。在拉沙热的发病机制和分子流行病学方面有了新的认识，并且已经开发出了用于诊断这种危及生命疾病的先进技术。这篇综述的目的是特别总结关于拉沙病毒和拉沙热的最新文献。讨论并联系了从基础研究到临床实践和实验室诊断等几个方面。
