Sunmonu Taofiki Ajao¹*, Owhin Sampson Omagbemi¹, Abejegah Chukwuyem², Kareem Adesola Olawumi², Etafo Ijeoma² and Ogunmodede Adebimpe Funmilola³

¹Department of Medicine, Federal Medical Centre Owo, Ondo State, Nigeria
²Department of Community Health, Federal Medical Centre, Owo, Ondo State, Nigeria
³Department of Medicine, Federal Medical Centre, Owo, Ondo state, Nigeria

*Corresponding Author: Sunmonu Taofiki Ajao, Department of Medicine, Federal Medical Centre, Owo, Ondo State, Nigeria.

Received: August 21, 2023; Published: September 22, 2023

Abstract

Introduction: Lassa Fever infection is one of the viral haemorrhagic fevers that occur in epidemics in west African countries. It could affect the central nervous system and present with cognitive function impairment.

Aims and Objective: This study aimed to examine the visuo-spatial function in patients who recovered from Lassa fever infection especially within the 30 day follow up period.

Methods and Materials: Fifty patients who presented with serologically positive Lassa fever infection were studied along with fifty age, sex and educationally matched controls. The sociodemographic and clinical variables of the participants were obtained with structured questionnaire. Thereafter the patients were examined neurologically. and automated neuropsychological test were administered to all study participants. Blood samples were also collected from the patients for HIV and Hepatitis virus screening. Blood samples forSerum electrolytes, Urea and creatinine and full blood count were also collected. The results obtained were documented and analyzed with SPSS version 21.0 (Chicago Illinois).

Results: The mean age of the Lassa Fever patients was 41.94 ± 14.5years while that of the normal controls was 37.34+12.89 (p > 0.05). There were 27 males and 23 females in the Lassa fever group while there were 30 males and 16 females in the control group. The mean CVST time in the Lassa group was 22.59 ± 10.89 seconds while that of the control group was 17.89 ± 6.55 seconds (p < 0.05). Only prolonged hospital stay was associated with significantly prolonged mean CVST time (p < 0.05). The serum electrolytes level, degree of anaemia serum urea and creatinine had no impact on the patients mean CVST mean time . The prevalence of severely prolonged mean CVST time in the patients with Lassa fever was 18.8% while that of controls was 8%.

Conclusion: Prolonged mean CVST time was observed in patients from acute Lassa fever infection with recovery. Prolonged hospital stay was identified as a significant risk factor for this

Keywords: Cognition; Viral Haemorrhagic Fever; Lassa Fever

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Citation

Citation: Sunmonu Taofiki Ajao., et al. “Visuo-Spatial Impairment in Patients Who Recovered from Lassa Fever Infection: A 30 Day Follow Up Observatory Study". Acta Scientific Neurology 6.10 (2023): 17-24.

Copyright

Copyright: © 2023 Sunmonu Taofiki Ajao., et al.This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.