Laboratory Diagnosis of Lassa Fever, Liberia.

The article summarizes experiences on the laboratory testing of 184 patients from Liberia who were suspected with Lassa fever (LASV) and the diagnosis of the disease. Results of real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) assay revealed the presence of LASV in 35 patients. Observation also showed several mismatched nucleotides at the binding site of the antisense primer S80 in each of the three individual isolates. Ribonucleic acid (RNA) concentrations were also determined among the individuals using RT-PCR.