The number of Lassa virus infections per year in West Africa is estimated to be 100,000 to 300,000 with approximately 5,000 deaths. Lassa fever is endemic in the eastern part of Sierra Leone and has effected the Kenema district since the first set of outbreak in 1996. It is known that 10 to 20 percent of people admitted in hospitals suffer from Lassa Fever due to the weakness of the disease surveillance system, late detection of disease outbreak, and lack of proper hygiene and medical resources.

"The microbe is nothing; the terrain is everything"