Risks of Zoonotic Diseases to Travellers in West Africa

Abstract

Travellers in West Africa are open to yellow fever, Lassa Fever, rabies and African sleeping sickness, four most important zoonotic diseases. Between 1974 and 1986, a total of 70991 confirmed yellow fever cases resulting in 3762 deaths were reported from Sierra Leone, Gambia, Senegal, Ivory Coast, Burkina Fasso and Nigeria. In 1969 and 1970, 7 out of 29 cases died of Lassa fever while a range of 0.2%--22.4% prevalence has been reported among the inhabitants of West Africa. In Ghana, between 1977 and 1981, 102 human rabies were officially reported. In Nigeria, an average of 18 cases of rabies with a range of 8--28 cases have been reported since 1962. All cases were fatal. Though alarming epidemics of sleeping sickness (African trypanosomiasis) have been controlled across Africa, at least 8000 cases were reported yearly in Nigeria and from Uganda.