Lassa viruses are enveloped, single-stranded, bisegmented, ambisense RNA viruses. Their genome is contained in two RNA segments that code for two proteins each, one in each sense, for a total of four viral proteins.LassamammarenavirusFromWikipedia,thefreeencyclopediaJumptonavigationJumptosearchThisarticleisaboutthehemorrhagicfever-causingLassavirus.Fortherabiformvirus,seeLyssavirus.TypeofviralhemorrhagicfeverLassamammarenavirusTEMmicrographofLassamammarenavirusvirionsVirusclassification(unranked):VirusRealm:RiboviriaKingdom:OrthornaviraePhylum:NegarnaviricotaClass:EllioviricetesOrder:BunyaviralesFamily:ArenaviridaeGenus:MammarenavirusSpecies:LassamammarenavirusSynonymsLassavirusLassamammarenavirus(LASV)isanarenavirusthatcausesLassahemorrhagicfever,[1]atypeofviralhemorrhagicfever(VHF),inhumansandotherprimates.Lassamammarenavirusisanemergingvirusandaselectagent,requiringBiosafetyLevel4-equivalentcontainment.ItisendemicinWestAfricancountries,especiallySierraLeone,theRepublicofGuinea,Nigeria,andLiberia,wheretheannualincidenceofinfectionisbetween300,000and500,000cases,resultingin5,000deathsperyear.[2]Asof2012discoverieswithintheManoRiverregionofwestAfricahaveexpandedtheendemiczonebetweenthetwoknownLassaendemicregions,indicatingthatLASVismorewidelydistributedthroughoutthetropicalwoodedsavannahecozoneinwestAfrica.[3]TherearenoapprovedvaccinesagainstLassafeverforuseinhumans.[4]Contents1Discovery2Virology2.1Structureandgenome2.2Receptors2.3Lifecycle3Pathogenesis4Seealso5ReferencesDiscovery[edit]In1969,missionarynurseLauraWinefellillwithamysteriousdiseaseshecontractedfromanobstetricalpatientinLassa,avillageinBornoState,Nigeria.[5][6][7]ShewasthentransportedtoJos,Nigeriawhereshedied.Subsequently,twoothersbecameinfected,oneofwhomwasfifty-two-year-oldnurseLilyPinneowhohadcaredforLauraWine.[8]SamplesfromPinneoweresenttoYaleUniversityinNewHavenwhereanewvirus,thatwouldlaterbeknownasLassamammarenavirus,wasisolatedforthefirsttimebyJordiCasals,SonjaBuckley,andothers.[9][10][11]Casals