Lassa Virus Live Tracking and Lineage Assignment: How Nextstrain Can Enhance Surveillance and Public Health in Africa and Beyond Lassa virus (LASV), a zoonotic, bi-segmented arenavirus endemic to West Africa, causes seasonal epidemics with substantial morbidity and mortality. Increasing frequency of exported cases emphasises...

New article shows how #Nextstrain based live tracking and lineage assignment for #LassaVirus can strengthen #GenomicSurveillance and #PublicHealth response in Africa and beyond 🔬🦠🌍 #Virology
📄 https://doi.org/10.1080/22221751.2026.2640699
👤 EVBC: Knut Reinert, Denise Kühnert

Lassa virus circumvents macrophage and dendritic cell antiviral defences in its natural reservoir, the Natal multimammate mouse (Mastomys natalensis) - npj Viruses npj Viruses - Lassa virus circumvents macrophage and dendritic cell antiviral defences in its natural reservoir, the Natal multimammate mouse (Mastomys natalensis)

Our latest study of #Lassavirus immunology in its natural reservoir, the natal multimammate mouse, describes some striking circumvention of first-line innate immune responses against Lassa in these rodents. Check it out!

#BSL4 #hemorrhagicfever

www.nature.com/articles/s44...

CLASV: Rapid Lassa virus lineage assignment with random forest Author summary Lassa fever is a viral illness that causes yearly outbreaks in West Africa and has the potential to spread internationally, with cases recently reported in several countries outside the region. Quickly identifying the genetic lineage of the virus responsible is critical for inferring the source of outbreaks and guiding medical and public health responses. However, tools designed specifically for rapid Lassa virus lineage identification are almost non-existent. In this study, we introduce CLASV, a fast and user-friendly tool that uses machine learning to identify the major circulating lineages of Lassa virus from genetic sequences. Validated on real-world data, CLASV achieved high accuracy even when working with incomplete sequences. It runs in minutes on a standard computer, making it practical for deployment in local low-resource laboratories. By providing timely and reliable lineage information, CLASV has the potential to enhance outbreak response and enable more targeted public health interventions—both in West Africa and in countries managing imported cases.

Introducing CLASV: a fast, Random-Forest-based tool for assigning #LassaVirus lineages (II, III, IV/V, VII) from raw sequences, deployable in low-resource settings and crucial for outbreak response. 🦠💻 #VirusBioinformatics
📄 https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0013512
👤 EVBC: Denise Kühnert

Meet SHIELD! ✋

Today: The research of the Lassa Virus Immunology group at the BNITM focuses on hemorrhagic fever viruses such as Lassa, Ebola, and Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever viruses. 🦠🌍

Web: www.bnitm.de/en/research/...

#LassaVirus #NipahVirus #TropicalMedicine #BNITM #SHIELDproject

Findings from papers in eBioMedicine advance development of IAVI’s single-dose Lassa fever vaccine candidate IAVI and partners' preclinical research maps the antibody response to LASV vaccination.

New from LJI's Saphire Lab:

Findings from papers in eBioMedicine (@ebiomedicine.bsky.social) advance development of IAVI’s single-dose Lassa fever vaccine candidate bit.ly/4irowFB

#InfectiousDisease #Vaccines #LassaVirus #Health #Medicine

MOPEVACLAS vaccine candidate for Lassa fever enters clinical trials After more than 20 years of research on arenaviruses, an Institut Pasteur team led by Sylvain Baize has developed an original vaccine platform known as MOPEVAC, which will strengthen the Institut Past...

🔬 After 20+ years of research, Institut Pasteur scientists have developed MOPEVAC, a groundbreaking vaccine platform. First target 💉 Lassa fever, a disease that kills thousands annually. #VaccineInnovation #PublicHealth #LassaVirus

Illustration of Lassa virus with description. The virus is illustrated with shades of blue and red. It resembles a sphere with protruding surface receptors. Inside the sphere is a string-like proteins and genetic materia. Description: Lassa virus is spread by a type of rat in West Africa. High mortality rate, especially in pregnant and immunocompromised people. Vaccines are in development and at the clinical-testing stage. Art by @patriciapauchnick for LJI's Immune Matters Magazine

#PathogenOfTheWeek: Lassa virus is a growing concern for #GlobalHealth. The virus has caused deadly outbreaks in West Africa—and it has a death toll of up to 90% in pregnant individuals. 1/2 🧵

#Lassa #LassaVirus #ZoonoticDiseases #InfectiousDisease #VaccineResearch #Virology

Structure-guided design of a prefusion GPC trimer induces neutralizing responses against LASV - npj Vaccines npj Vaccines - Structure-guided design of a prefusion GPC trimer induces neutralizing responses against LASV

Researchers engineered a stable, prefusion Lassa virus GPC trimer, which, when used as an immunogen in animal models, elicited robust neutralizing antibody responses. www.nature.com/articles/s41... #virology #vaccine #LassaVirus #VaccineDevelopment #Immunology #EmergingViruses #Glycoprotein

Functional Characterization of a Lassa Virus Fusion Inhibitor Adaptive Mutant <div xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" class="section"> <a class="named-anchor" id="d5937139e201"> <!-- named anchor --> </a> ...

New study on LASV! The F446L mutation in GP2 boosts fusion activity and drives cross-resistance to inhibitors—vital insights for vaccine and drug development.

Learn more: www.scienceopen.com/hosted-docum...

#LassaVirus #Virology #VaccineResearch #DrugDiscovery #FusionInhibitors

Hedgehogs join bats as potential non-rodent mammarenavirus reservoirs? wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/...

Rodent-born #mammarenaviruses include high-consequence human pathogens like #Lassavirus, #Juninvirus and #Lujovirus. Expanding our knowledge of virus diversity and host range is important!