An Iowa resident is believed to have died from Lassa fever, a virus rare in the US that causes one in three cases of permanent hearing loss and causes 95 percent of infected pregnant women to miscarry.

The patient, who has not been publicly identified, recently traveled to West Africa, where the virus originates and can be found in rats in the region, health officials said.

The infected person — who returned to the U.S. from West Africa earlier this month — had been hospitalized in isolation at the University of Iowa Health Care Medical Center before his death.

On Monday, preliminary tests by the Nebraska Laboratory Response Network revealed the Iowa resident tested positive for Lassa fever — which would mark just the ninth known case of the viral illness in the U.S. since 1969, the year Lassa was first documented . Nigeria.

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is helping local health officials identify close contacts of the patient after they start showing symptoms. The patient showed no symptoms during the trip, so fellow travelers are not being screened because their risk is “extremely low,” CDC officials said.

Any person identified as coming into close contact with the deceased patient will be monitored by health authorities for 21 days.

Symptoms of Lassa fever can include fever, fatigue, and headache in mild cases, and bleeding, difficulty breathing, vomiting, facial swelling, shock, and chest, back, and abdominal pain in more severe cases, according to the CDC.

Lassa fever can cause permanent hearing loss and deafness among patients with mild and severe cases. About 1 in 3 cases suffer some degree of hearing loss, according to the CDC.

Meanwhile, pregnant women are at serious risk if infected, with 95% losing their pregnancy and fetus.

Those infected with Lassa fever usually start showing symptoms within one to three weeks of contracting the viral disease.

The disease cannot be spread before the infected person is symptomatic or through casual contact such as hugging or shaking hands.

Although the virus is spread mostly by rodents — particularly West African multimammal rats and their feces and urine — it can be spread through contact with the bodily fluids of an infected person, according to the CDC.

Investigators believe the Iowa patient was in contact with West African rats, according to preliminary information.

West Africa has about 100,000 to 300,000 cases of Lassa fever each year, with an average of 5,000 deaths.

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