Ship awaiting tests on whether
person died of Lassa Fever

Associated Press
September 07, 2004

Galveston Texas - A ship is waiting just outside the Houston Ship Channel while health officials try to determine whether one of its crew members died of Lassa fever, a virus that is common in West Africa, a U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention spokesman said Tuesday.

The ship, called the "Overseas Marilyn," left from the port of Casablanca in Morocco, Houston television station KRIV reported Tuesday night. The ship is off the coast of Galveston.

The crew member died on Aug. 31, CDC spokesman Llelwyn Grant. He said that there was no official quarantine on the ship, but health officials had asked for it to remain out to sea and they were cooperative.

U.S. Coast Guard Chief Warrant Officer Adam Wine said the crew member's body was brought to shore Sunday and taken to the coroner. Wine said that the ship was sitting just outside the sea buoy that marks the entrance to the Houston Ship Channel.

He said there were 20 crew members on the U.S.-flagged ship operated by OSG Shipping Management Inc. The ship carried 24,800 metric tons of phosphate. All crew members were identified as U.S. citizens. The Lassa fever virus is spread through rat droppings or urine that can be passed to other people through bodily fluids but not through casual contact.

Grant said that the disease is hard to catch and doesn't represent a threat to the general public if it is indeed Lassa fever.

Last month, a New Jersey man who recently returned from a trip to Liberia died of Lassa fever. Up until then, the disease had not been detected in the United States since 1989. The 38-year-old man from the Trenton area was not identified by authorities.

Grant said they expect to get samples Wednesday or Thursday and then expect to take several days to determine whether the death was due to Lassa fever.

Texas Department of Health spokesman Doug McBride said that the cargo ship left West Africa Aug. 13.

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