One possible mechanism involved in Lassa fever pathogenesis could be infection-triggered induction of uncontrolled cytokine expression similar to what is seen in sepsis. This hypothesis is supported by experimental data obtained from a case of fatal Lassa fever imported into Germany in 2000 [69].NCBISkiptomaincontentSkiptonavigationResourcesHowToAboutNCBIAccesskeysMyNCBISignintoNCBISignOutJournalListVirusesv.4(10);2012OctPMC3497040Viruses.2012Oct;4(10):2031–2048.Publishedonline2012Oct9.doi: 10.3390/v4102031PMCID:PMC3497040PMID:23202452PathogenesisofLassaFeverNadezhdaE.YunandDavidH.Walker*AuthorinformationArticlenotesCopyrightandLicenseinformationDisclaimerDepartmentofPathology,UniversityofTexasMedicalBranch,Galveston,Texas,USA;Email:ude.bmtu@nuyen(N.Y.);ude.bmtu@reklawd(D.W.)*Authortowhomcorrespondenceshouldbeaddressed;Email:ude.bmtu@reklawd(D.W.);Tel.:+1-409-772-3989;Fax:+1-409-772-1850.Received2012Sep3;Revised2012Sep28;Accepted2012Oct3.Copyright©2012bytheauthors;licenseeMDPI,Basel,Switzerland.Thisarticleisanopen-accessarticledistributedunderthetermsandconditionsoftheCreativeCommonsAttributionlicense(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/).ThisarticlehasbeencitedbyotherarticlesinPMC.Lassavirus,anOldWorldarenavirus(familyArenaviridae),istheetiologicalagentofLassafever,aseverehumandiseasethatisreportedinmorethan100,000patientsannuallyintheendemicregionsofWestAfricawithmortalityratesforhospitalizedpatientsvaryingbetween5-10%.Currently,therearenoapprovedvaccinesagainstLassafeverforuseinhumans.Here,wereviewthepublishedliteratureonthelifecycleofLassaviruswiththespecificfocusputonLassafeverpathogenesisinhumansandrelevantanimalmodels.AdvancingknowledgesignificantlyimprovesourunderstandingofLassavirusbiology,aswellasofthemechanismsthatallowthevirustoevadethehost’simmunesystem.However,furtherinvestigationsarerequiredinordertodesignimproveddiagnostictools,aneffectivevaccine,andtherapeuticagents.Keywords:arenavirus,Lassavirus,pathogenesis,cell-mediatedimmunityLassavirus,t