An Iowa resident has died after contracting a suspected case of Lassa fever, health officials said.

The patient was diagnosed Tuesday after returning to the United States from West Africa earlier this month, according to the report Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Iowa Department of Health and Human Services (IDHHS).

The patient was hospitalized in isolation at the University of Iowa Health Care Medical Center in Iowa City and died Tuesday afternoon, according to officials.

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Health officials said the risk to the public from the disease is low and cases are usually found only in West Africa.

Here’s what you need to know about Lassa fever, how it spreads and how it’s treated:

What is Lassa fever?

Lassa fever is “an acute viral hemorrhagic disease caused by the Lassa virus,” according to World Health Organization.

“Lassa fever is a potentially life-threatening viral disease,” Dr. Albert Ko, the Raj and Indra Nooyi Professor of Public Health at the Yale School of Public Health, told ABC News. “The virus, which is part of this family class called arenaviruses, is hosted by rats and mice especially in the western part of Africa.”

The virus is mainly spread by multimammal rats belonging to the genus Mastomys, according to CDC.

Only multimammal rats in West African countries – such as Guinea, Liberia, Nigeria and Sierra Leone – are known to carry the virus. However, people living in neighboring countries are also at risk of Lassa virus infection.

The first documented case was identified in 1969 in Lassa, Nigeria, which gave the disease its name, the CDC said.

In the past 55 years, there have been only eight travel-associated cases of Lassa fever in the U.S., according to the report IDHHSwhich makes its appearance in the US very rare.

How is Lassa fever transmitted?

Lassa fever is often spread by contact with the urine or feces of contaminated rats. Multimammal rats often live in areas where food supplies are stored. Such contact can occur by touching contaminated objects, eating contaminated food, getting the virus into an open cut or sore, eating infected rodents, or breathing air that is contaminated with infected urine or feces, such as when cleaning or sweep, the CDC said.

Lassa fever can spread from one person to another through contact with the blood or body fluids of an infected person or through sexual contact.

“It’s not in the air. It’s not like COVID,” Dr. Robert Murphy, professor of infectious diseases at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, told ABC News. “(Lassa fever), it has to be a fluid… So you don’t have to worry about being in the same room with someone, but you do have to worry if you’ve touched that person or had contact with that person person and being exposed to whatever fluids they have.”

What are the symptoms of Lassa fever?

Symptoms of Lassa fever usually appear one to three weeks after a person is initially infected, according to CDC.

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About eight out of 10 people who contract Lassa fever have mild symptoms, including low-grade fever, fatigue, weakness and headache, or no symptoms at all and are never diagnosed, the CDC said. The remaining 20% ​​will experience serious symptoms that may include bleeding, facial swelling and vomiting, as well as chest, back and abdominal pain, difficulty breathing and shock.

Complications can include hearing loss and acute kidney failure, experts said. If a pregnant person is infected, there is a high risk of miscarriage, with about 95 percent of fetuses not surviving, according to the CDC.

Less than 1% of people who contract Lassa fever die. However, among those who become seriously ill and are hospitalized, the death rate is about 15%.

“Once they get really sick, death is pretty quick. It’s within seven to 14 days, usually,” Murphy said.

He added that diagnosing Lassa fever can be challenging because it is not routine to test for the virus. Those people handling samples need to be careful in case they come into contact with them and become infected, Murphy said.

How is Lassa fever treated?

Patients who are sick with Lassa fever may receive an antiviral drug called ribavirin. It is most successful when given to the patient soon after the patient becomes ill and has symptoms, according to CDC.

Supportive care is also recommended, including rest, hydration and treating the symptoms of the virus.

Tips for preventing Lassa fever

There are currently no vaccines to prevent Lassa virus infection.

If one travels to West Africa, says the CDC the main method of preventing Lassa fever infection is to stay away from rats.

Additionally, the CDC recommends storing food in rat-proof containers and keeping your home clean. You should also avoid eating rats and catching and disposing of any rats in and around houses.

That said, most Americans don’t need to worry about Lassa fever, said Dr. Ko of the Yale School of Public Health.

“This is a disease that is really a major public health problem, but it’s localized in West Africa,” he said. “It’s not a disease that spreads easily from one place to another, unlike some of the other diseases we’ve faced, like Zika and COVID, and that’s because people usually aren’t infectious until begin to develop symptoms and often. We can screen and know the people who are sick, you know, identify them and isolate them before they start traveling.”

What you need to know about Lassa fever after Iowa resident dies from rare disease originally appeared on abcnews.go.com