This brief review is focused on the events surrounding the initial discovery of a new viral hemorrhagic fever in 1969 and the subsequent 10–15 years during which a substantial understanding of the disease was gained. In 1969, a series of sequential life-threating or fatal infections occurred among health care workers in Nigeria and the laboratory scientist who isolated and characterized the causative agent. The agent, Lassa virus was named after the geographical location of the first recognized human case. The new virus was shown to be related to lymphocytic choriomeningitis and to previously unclassified neotropical viruses, including Argentine and Bolivian hemorrhagic fevers, and a new taxonomic grouping, the Arenaviruses, was proposed. In 1970–72, three further epidemics occurred in Nigeria, Liberia and Sierra Leone, the first two involved nosocomial transmission, and the third was a community-based outbreak, during which the rodent reservoir host was identified. In 1976, a long-term research project commenced in Sierra Leone, which produced a rich body of data from prospectively designed studies on the clinical features, transmission, and treatment of the disease.

这篇简短的评论集中于围绕1969年首次发现新病毒性出血热以及随后的10-15年期间的事件，在此期间人们对该病有了实质性的了解。1969年，在尼日利亚的医护人员和隔离并确定病原体特征的实验室科学家中，发生了一系列连续的威胁生命或致命的感染。拉萨病毒的病原体是根据第一个公认的人类病例的地理位置命名的。新病毒被证明与淋巴细胞脉络膜脑膜炎和先前未分类的新嗜性病毒（包括阿根廷和玻利维亚出血热）有关，并提出了一个新的分类学分类，即禽病毒。1970-72年，在尼日利亚，利比里亚和塞拉利昂，又发生了三种流行病，前两个涉及医院传播，第三个是基于社区的暴发，在此期间确定了啮齿动物宿主。1976年，塞拉利昂开始了一项长期研究项目，该项目从前瞻性研究中获得了关于该疾病的临床特征，传播和治疗的大量数据。