Lassa fever

disease

On this page

Also known as Lassa hemorrhagic feverLF

Summary

Lassa fever (MONDO:0005820) is a disease with 8 GWAS associations across 6 studies and 13 clinical trials. Top therapeutic interventions include ribavirin and favipiravir. A subtype of arenavirus hemorrhagic fever — broader associated-gene and molecular evidence is on the parent page (see Disease family below).

At a glance

Prevalence: <1 / 1 000 000 (Europe) [Orphanet-validated]
GWAS associations: 8
Phenotypes (HPO): 28
Clinical trials: 13

Clinical features

Epidemiology

Prevalence records

1 prevalence record(s), Orphanet:

Type	Class	Value	Geography	Validation
Point prevalence	<1 / 1 000 000		Europe	Validated

Signs & symptoms

Clinical features (HPO)

28 HPO clinical features (Orphanet curated; top 28 by frequency):

HPO ID	Term	Frequency
HP:0001945	Fever	Very frequent (80-99%)
HP:0003496	Increased circulating IgM level	Very frequent (80-99%)
HP:0005268	Spontaneous abortion	Very frequent (80-99%)
HP:0020071	Viremia	Very frequent (80-99%)
HP:0025406	Asthenia	Very frequent (80-99%)
HP:0400008	Menometrorrhagia	Very frequent (80-99%)
HP:0001324	Muscle weakness	Frequent (30-79%)
HP:0002015	Dysphagia	Frequent (30-79%)
HP:0002017	Nausea and vomiting	Frequent (30-79%)
HP:0002027	Abdominal pain	Frequent (30-79%)
HP:0002315	Headache	Frequent (30-79%)
HP:0012735	Cough	Frequent (30-79%)
HP:0025439	Pharyngitis	Frequent (30-79%)
HP:0100749	Chest pain	Frequent (30-79%)
HP:0000282	Facial edema	Occasional (5-29%)
HP:0000365	Hearing impairment	Occasional (5-29%)
HP:0000509	Conjunctivitis	Occasional (5-29%)
HP:0000952	Jaundice	Occasional (5-29%)
HP:0001250	Seizure	Occasional (5-29%)
HP:0001622	Premature birth	Occasional (5-29%)
HP:0001892	Abnormal bleeding	Occasional (5-29%)
HP:0002014	Diarrhea	Occasional (5-29%)
HP:0002094	Dyspnea	Occasional (5-29%)
HP:0002829	Arthralgia	Occasional (5-29%)
HP:0003418	Back pain	Occasional (5-29%)
HP:0031273	Shock	Occasional (5-29%)
HP:0100520	Oliguria	Occasional (5-29%)
HP:0100806	Sepsis	Occasional (5-29%)

Identifiers

Disease identifiers

Field	Value
Canonical name	Lassa fever
Mondo ID	MONDO:0005820
EFO	EFO:0007338
MeSH	D007835
Orphanet	99824
DOID	DOID:9537
ICD-10-CM	A96.2
ICD-11	515020316
NCIT	C128418
SNOMED CT	19065005
UMLS	C0023092
MedGen	7276
GARD	0019688
MedDRA	10023927
Is cancer (heuristic)	no

Also known as: Lassa hemorrhagic fever · LF

Data availability: 8 GWAS associations (6 studies).

Disease family

This is a subtype of arenavirus hemorrhagic fever. Genetic, therapeutic, and trial evidence is largely curated at the broader-term level — see the parent page for the associated-gene cohort and molecular evidence.

Classification path: disease › human disease › disease by etiologic mechanism › disease of primarily extrinsic mechanism › infectious disease › viral infectious disease › primary viral infectious disease › Arenaviridae infectious disease › arenavirus hemorrhagic fever › Lassa fever

Related subtypes (1): Argentine hemorrhagic fever

Genetics & variants

GWAS landscape

8 GWAS associations across 6 studies. Top hits map to 2 distinct genes (as reported by GWAS).

Top associations by p-value

rsID	p-value	Gene	Risk allele	Odds ratio
rs9870087	2e-09	GRM7	?	15.4
rs73404538	2e-09	HORMAD2 - LIF-AS1	?
rs73397758	6e-08	CALM2P1 - CASC17	?	9.16
rs143130878	1e-07	TMEM132E - CCT6B	?	6.87
rs114992845	1e-07	CNTNAP2	?

Top studies (by case count)

Study	Lead author	Year	Cases	Controls	Title
GCST90319494	Kotliar D	2024	533	1,986	Genome-wide association study identifies human genetic variants associated with fatal outcome from Lassa fever.
GCST90301246	Kotliar D	2024	411	1,187	Genome-wide association study identifies human genetic variants associated with fatal outcome from Lassa fever.
GCST90319495	Kotliar D	2024	177	0	Genome-wide association study identifies human genetic variants associated with fatal outcome from Lassa fever.
GCST90301247	Kotliar D	2024	122	0	Genome-wide association study identifies human genetic variants associated with fatal outcome from Lassa fever.
GCST90301248	Kotliar D	2024	107	0	Genome-wide association study identifies human genetic variants associated with fatal outcome from Lassa fever.
GCST90301249	Kotliar D	2024	70	0	Genome-wide association study identifies human genetic variants associated with fatal outcome from Lassa fever.

Variant details and genetic-evidence tiers

Tier distribution (top 50 variants)

Tier	Variants
Tier 1: coding	0
Tier 2: splice/UTR	0
Tier 3: regulatory	0
Tier 4: intronic/intergenic	5

MAF distribution

Bucket	Variants
common (>=0.05)	3
low_freq (0.01-0.05)	0
rare (<0.01)	0
unknown	2

Functional consequences

Consequence	Count
intron_variant	3
intergenic_variant	2

Top variants

rsID	Chr	Pos	Alleles	MAF	Consequence	Gene	p-value	Tier
rs9870087	3	7288578	A>G	0.05	intron_variant	GRM7	2e-09	Tier 4: intronic/intergenic
rs73404538	22	30223994	G>A	0.05	intergenic_variant	HORMAD2 - LIF-AS1	2e-09	Tier 4: intronic/intergenic
rs73397758	17	70749110	C>G	0.05	intron_variant	CALM2P1 - CASC17	6e-08	Tier 4: intronic/intergenic
rs143130878	17	34865389	C>G		intergenic_variant	TMEM132E - CCT6B	1e-07	Tier 4: intronic/intergenic
rs114992845	7	146659602	T>A		intron_variant	CNTNAP2	1e-07	Tier 4: intronic/intergenic

Genes & proteins

No associated-gene cohort resolved for this disease. Atlas builds the molecular and therapeutic sections — associated genes, protein families, druggability, pathways, interactions, and drug associations — by aggregating over a disease’s associated genes (resolved via GWAS / GenCC / ClinVar / CIViC), and none resolved here. This is expected for antibody-mediated, autoimmune, or otherwise non-gene-defined conditions; the curated evidence for this disease is its clinical features, GWAS susceptibility, and clinical trials (above).

Function

No pathway enrichment — requires an associated-gene cohort.

Therapeutics

Drugs indicated for this disease

No approved or late-stage (phase ≥3) drug is indicated for this disease; the following are in earlier-phase trials only.

Earlier-phase candidates (phase 2, investigational — efficacy not yet established): Dexamethasone, Favipiravir, Ribavirin.

Clinical trials & evidence

Clinical trials

Clinical trials: 13.

Phase distribution (across all retrieved trials)

Phase	Trials
PHASE2	5
PHASE1	4
Not specified	3
PHASE2/PHASE3	1

Top trials by phase / activity

NCT	Phase	Status	Title
NCT06212336	PHASE2/PHASE3	RECRUITING	ISTH/ANRS 0409s INTEGRATE Lassa Fever Study
NCT05868733	PHASE2	RECRUITING	A Lassa Fever Vaccine Trial in Adults and Children Residing in West Africa
NCT06222723	PHASE2	RECRUITING	LAssa Fever Adjunct Treatment With DEXamethasone
NCT07419373	PHASE2	RECRUITING	ARN-75039 Lassa Fever Treatment in West Africa
NCT00992693	PHASE2	WITHDRAWN	Treatment of Viral Hemorrhagic Fevers With Intravenous Ribavirin in Military Treatment Facilities
NCT04907682	PHASE2	COMPLETED	Pharmacokinetics, Tolerability and Safety of Favipiravir Compared to Ribavirin for the Treatment of Lassa Fever
NCT06546709	PHASE1	ACTIVE_NOT_RECRUITING	DMID 23-0015; Lassa Fever CVD 1000
NCT03805984	PHASE1	COMPLETED	Safety, Tolerability and Immunogenicity of INO-4500 in Healthy Volunteers
NCT04093076	PHASE1	COMPLETED	Dose-ranging Study: Safety, Tolerability and Immunogenicity of INO-4500 in Healthy Volunteers in Ghana
NCT04794218	PHASE1	UNKNOWN	A Clinical Trial to Evaluate the Safety and Immunogenicity of rVSV∆G-LASV-GPC Vaccine in Adults in Good General Heath
NCT03655561	Not specified	ACTIVE_NOT_RECRUITING	Lassa Fever Clinical Course and Prognostic Factors in Nigeria
NCT03889106	Not specified	TERMINATED	Cardiovascular Function and Ribavirin Pharmacokinetics and Pharmacodynamics in Patients With Lassa Fever
NCT04285034	Not specified	COMPLETED	Cardiovascular Function and Ribavirin PK/PD in Lassa Fever in Lassa Fever

Drugs tested across these trials (top 30)

Molecule	Max phase	Trials referencing
RIBAVIRIN	4	4
FAVIPIRAVIR	4	2

Drugs: Ribavirin, Favipiravir