A middle-aged Iowa resident has died from Lassa fever, according to an alert from the Iowa Department of Health & Human Services (HHS).

The person, whose name and age were not shared, had recently returned to the state after traveling to West Africa, the release stated.

The initial testing of the patient was performed on Monday at the Nebraska Public Health Laboratory on Monday, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is “working to confirm the diagnosis,” per Iowa HHS.

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“This is a difficult time for the family of this individual and I want to express our deepest condolences,” said Dr. Robert Kruse, state medical director of IOWA HHS, in the release. 

“I want to assure Iowans that the risk of transmission is incredibly low in our state. We continue to investigate and monitor this situation and are implementing the necessary public health protocols.”

The patient received care at the University of Iowa Health Care, which is working closely with Iowa HHS, the CDC and other local public health partners to assist with contact tracing and monitoring, per the release.

What is Lassa fever?

Lassa fever is a hemorrhagic viral infection spread by rats in West Africa, according to Edward Liu, M.D., chief of infectious diseases at Hackensack Meridian Jersey Shore University Medical Center.

The viral illness is transmitted by a certain type of rat called the “multimammate rat” or Mastomys natalensis (Mastomys), per the CDC.

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“This is a very rare disease,” Liu told Fox News Digital.  

“Public health will have to follow close contacts of the patient to make sure there are no subsequent cases of Lassa fever.”

“Diagnostic testing can be done in a laboratory with a high level of biosafety and enhanced infection prevention and control precautions,” the CDC noted. (iStock)

People can catch the fever through contact with infected rats or their saliva, urine or droppings, the same source stated. 

“Lassa fever can also spread between people by close contact with bodily fluids,” Lui told Fox News Digital. 

“Casual contact is not sufficient to transmit Lassa fever.”

“Lassa usually is a mild disease, but in severe cases it can cause uncontrolled bleeding and shock.”

The CDC confirmed that Lassa fever is not spread through hugging, shaking hands or sitting near someone.

“People with Lassa fever are not contagious until after their symptoms begin,” the agency stated.

Not using proper personal protective equipment (PPE) or not properly sterilizing equipment in health care settings can cause the illness to spread. (iStock)

Below are some of the ways in which the virus can spread, as listed on the CDC’s website.

• Touching contaminated objects
• Eating food that has the virus
• Getting the virus in open cuts or sores
• Eating rodents
• Breathing in air that has infected urine or droppings, which can occur when cleaning or sweeping
• Not using proper personal protective equipment (PPE) or not properly sterilizing equipment in health care settings

Symptoms of infection

While about 80% of people experience only mild symptoms, it can be fatal in rare cases.

“Lassa is usually a mild disease, but in severe cases it can cause uncontrolled bleeding and shock,” Lui cautioned.

Those with mild illness may have a slight fever, fatigue, weakness and headache, according to the CDC.

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In some cases, the fever can cause bleeding, breathing difficulties, vomiting, facial swelling, shock, and pain in the chest, back and abdomen.

Symptoms typically begin within one to three weeks after a person is infected.

The antiviral drug Ribavirin has been shown to be effective in treating the infection, the CDC stated. (iStock)

Hearing loss is a known effect of Lassa fever, with about 30% of people experiencing some level of deafness, the CDC stated. In some cases, the hearing loss can be permanent.

Pregnant women face a high risk of miscarriage if they are infected.

Diagnosis and treatment

Anyone who has visited West Africa and is experiencing symptoms should seek medical attention.

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“Diagnostic testing can be done in a laboratory with a high level of biosafety and enhanced infection prevention and control precautions,” the CDC noted.

Supportive care — including rest, hydration and treatment of symptoms — is recommended for those with Lassa fever. (iStock)

The antiviral drug Ribavirin has been shown to be effective in treating the infection.

Supportive care — including rest, hydration and treatment of symptoms — is also recommended.

Preventing Lassa fever

The best way to prevent catching Lassa fever, according to the CDC, is to stay away from rats when visiting West Africa. 

It is also recommended to keep food in rat-proof containers, trap rats in and around homes, and avoid eating rats.

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Health care personnel should wear protective clothing, sterilize equipment and follow other infection control protocols when caring for infected patients, the agency added.

Elon Musk is urging people to submit their medical scans to Grok for analysis, but doctors advise using caution when relying on artificial intelligence for health care insights.

The Tesla and SpaceX CEO posted on X on Tuesday, encouraging his followers to submit X-rays, PET scans, MRIs or other medical images to the AI chatbot.

“This is still early stage, but it is already quite accurate and will become extremely good,” Musk wrote.

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The X owner also asked people to report back on “where Grok gets it right or needs work.”

Musk launched Grok, a product of his company xAI, in 2023. 

The most recent version of the generative AI chatbot is described as a “frontier language model with state-of-the-art reasoning capabilities.”

‘Future of medicine’

Dr. Marc Siegel, clinical professor of medicine at NYU Langone Health and Fox News’ senior medical analyst, responded to the Musk post in an interview with Fox News Digital, calling AI the “future of medicine.”

“It will be a big factor in terms of patients who have access to their own data, and it will become a big part of outreach to underserved areas, where well-trained radiologists are not available,” Siegel said. 

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Siegel said he believes we are reaching “the point of accuracy” where AI and machine learning can help to guide patient-centric health. 

Musk launched Grok, a product of his company xAI, in 2023. The most recent version of the generative AI chatbot is described as a “frontier language model with state-of-the-art reasoning capabilities.” (Getty Images)

The doctor urged patients and doctors to embrace AI technology rather than fight it.

“We should work with it,” he said. “It is the automatic pilot of medicine.”

“Doctors still need to guide the way or be available remotely to oversee guidance.”

In terms of Musk’s request that people submit their scans, Siegel pointed out that AI needs data to improve.

“People sending in images will help greatly with development as AI perfects its responses based on machine learning,” he said.

“It will not replace doctors entirely, but will be a very useful partner,” Siegel said of generative AI in health care. (Getty Images)

Dr. Harvey Castro, a board-certified emergency medicine physician and national speaker on artificial intelligence based in Dallas, Texas, referred to Grok’s potential ability to read medical scans as “promising and complex.”

“As an ER physician, I’ve seen firsthand how crucial quick, accurate diagnostics are in life-threatening situations,” Castro told Fox News Digital. 

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“AI can be a powerful tool in augmenting medical expertise, potentially accelerating diagnosis and improving patient outcomes.”

Caution is essential, experts say

While Grok and other AI models show promise in interpreting medical scans, both experts agree that users should proceed with caution.

“Doctors still need to guide the way or be available remotely to oversee guidance,” Siegel said. 

“This is still early stage, but it is already quite accurate and will become extremely good,” Elon Musk, co-founder of Tesla and SpaceX and owner of X Holdings Corp., wrote about Grok. (Apu Gomes/Getty Images)

“It will not replace doctors entirely, but will be a very useful partner.”

Castro emphasized that medical AI must meet the “highest standards of accuracy and reliability, particularly when dealing with sensitive, life-impacting information.”

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Patient privacy and data security are also essential, he noted. 

“While Grok’s potential is exciting, any AI used in health care should complement human expertise, not replace it,” he told Fox News Digital. 

“This technology holds transformative potential, but it must prioritize patient safety and trust above all.”

“Ethical oversight, transparency and validation of established medical standards are non-negotiable as we move into this new frontier,” Castro went on. 

“This technology holds transformative potential, but it must prioritize patient safety and trust above all.”

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Fox News Digital reached out to Musk requesting comment.

There are some obvious signs of a poor night’s sleep — fatigue, irritability and trouble focusing, to name a few — but it can also have some hidden effects.

In a new study led by University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), poor sleep was linked to faster brain aging in middle-aged adults.

While previous studies have focused on older adults, the average age of the 589 people in this study was 40 years old, according to a press release.

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The participants completed two sleep questionnaires five years apart. After 15 years, they underwent brain scans.

“We calculated brain age using a machine learning approach, using MRI data to estimate the amount of brain shrinkage corresponding to a specific age,” study author Clémence Cavaillès, PhD, a researcher at UCSF, told Fox News Digital.

“We showed that poor sleep that persisted over five years — and specifically when it related to insomnia symptoms — was found to be highly relevant to brain aging.”

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When evaluating sleep quality, the researchers looked at six poor sleep characteristics: short sleep duration, bad sleep quality, difficulty falling asleep, difficulty staying asleep, early morning awakening and daytime sleepiness.

“We showed that poor sleep that persisted over five years — and specifically when it related to insomnia symptoms — was found to be highly relevant to brain aging,” said the lead study author. (iStock)

Middle-aged participants with two to three poor sleep characteristics had a brain age that was 1.6 years older than those with no more than one poor sleep characteristic, according to Cavaillès.

Those with more than three poor sleep characteristics exhibited a brain age of 2.6 years older. 

“Poor sleep that persisted over five years — and specifically when it related to insomnia symptoms — was found to be highly relevant to brain aging.”

The findings were published in Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

“These findings are critical because they demonstrate that the link between sleep disturbances and brain health extends beyond older adulthood, suggesting that poor sleep in early midlife may already contribute to accelerated brain aging,” he said.

“If someone is facing persistent problems with sleep quality or insomnia symptoms, they should undergo further evaluation,” a doctor advised. (iStock)

Advanced brain aging is associated with cognitive decline and Alzheimer’s disease-related patterns, the researcher noted. 

“Therefore, poor sleep may be an important target for early interventions aimed at preventing neurocognitive decline, even before the lesion’s accumulation begins.”

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The researchers were surprised to find that there was not an association between sleep duration and accelerated brain aging, Cavaillès noted. 

“Sleep duration in midlife may be influenced by numerous factors, such as work, stress, multitasking or menopause,” he told Fox News Digital. 

Advanced brain aging is associated with cognitive decline and Alzheimer’s disease-related patterns. (iStock)

“Thus, it is also possible that its association with cognition is more complex during this critical period, and potentially more difficult to capture and/or less impactful.” 

Overall, the study results suggest that the importance of sleep for brain health in midlife would be more closely tied to quality rather than quantity in midlife, the researcher added.

‘Integral relationship’

Dr. Jocelyn Y. Cheng, a New Jersey neurologist and spokesperson for the American Academy of Sleep Medicine, was not involved in the study but weighed in on the findings.

“This study provides further support for the integral relationship between sleep and brain health,” she told Fox News Digital.

‘HOW MUCH SLEEP IS TOO MUCH?’: ASK A DOCTOR

“The findings highlight particular aspects of poor sleep — specifically early morning awakening and persistent difficulty with initiating sleep, which were associated with greater estimated age-related brain atrophy as measured by MRI.”

Sleep plays a role in clearing out beta-amyloid, the protein that accumulates in the brains of people who develop Alzheimer’s disease, Cheng noted.

Sleep plays a role in clearing out beta-amyloid, the protein that accumulates in the brains of people who develop Alzheimer’s disease. (REUTERS/Denis Balibouse)

When someone gets poor sleep, that clearance ability is reduced.

“Being readily identifiable, the onset of these symptoms may represent a key timepoint during which intervention could mitigate the development of disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease later in life,” Cheng added.

Potential limitations

The study did have some limitations, including the fact that it relied on people reporting their own sleep habits, which may not always be accurate, according to Cavaillès. 

“Also, because this was an observational study, we can’t say for certain that poor sleep directly causes brain aging — only that there’s a strong connection between the two,” he added.

“This study provides further support for the integral relationship between sleep and brain health.”

Cheng agreed that causation cannot be determined from the study, and also noted that it did not investigate whether brain atrophy had an impact on cognition.

Despite these limitations, she said, “There are plausible roles that poor sleep may play in brain health.”

Improving sleep quality

Based on the findings, people can improve their quality of rest by adopting several good sleep hygiene practices, Cavaillès said. 

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“They can start by maintaining a consistent sleep schedule, going to bed and waking up at the same time every day,” he said. 

Regular exercise can help improve sleep quality, experts agree. (iStock)

“Creating an ideal sleep environment — keeping the bedroom dark, quiet and at a cool temperature — also helps.”

Regular exercise and exposure to natural sunlight can also improve sleep quality. 

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Cavaillès also suggests avoiding screens and blue light, as well as stimulants like caffeine and alcohol. 

“Incorporating relaxation techniques before bed, such as deep breathing or meditation, can also help prepare the body for sleep,” the researcher added.

Healthy sleep is essential for a healthy brain, experts agree. “If someone is facing persistent problems with sleep quality or insomnia symptoms, they should undergo further evaluation,” a doctor advised. (iStock)

Cheng echoed that healthy sleep is essential for a healthy brain, hence the importance of maintaining good sleep habits.

“If someone is facing persistent problems with sleep quality or insomnia symptoms, they should undergo further evaluation,” she said.

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“This may be indicative of an underlying disorder, such as obstructive sleep apnea, and intervention may improve both quality of life and overall health.”

The study was funded by the National Institute on Aging.

With one in every eight women diagnosed with breast cancer at some point in their lives, experts agree that early detection and treatment is key.

“One of the biggest goals when it comes to breast cancer detection is to try and discover those cancers before they cause any problems,” Dr. Nicole Saphier, Fox News medical contributor, told Fox News Digital during an on-camera conversation. 

The most common symptom of breast cancer is a new lump or mass, according to the American Cancer Society (ACS).

AFTER A BREAST CANCER DIAGNOSIS, HERE ARE 10 IMPORTANT THINGS YOU SHOULD DO, EXPERTS SAY

“The most common is a palpable mass,” Saphier confirmed. 

“People come in with a lump. Sometimes it can be something benign, like a cyst, but it can also be a cancer.”

Not all warning signs are obvious, however.

“It’s not just about feeling a lump,” Saphier said. “There are some other signs that breast cancer can present.”

1. Nipple discharge

Studies have shown that nipple discharge is a symptom for 3% to 9% of breast cancer patients.

In particular, discharge containing blood can be a warning sign, according to Saphier.

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“Some women … see a little bit of blood in their bra,” she said. “This can be a sign of cancer cells in the duct.”

2. Itchy skin

Some women experience itching of the skin, Saphier said, whether it’s the skin of the breast or just the nipple itself. 

“This could be an indicator of an inflammatory process inside the breast,” she warned. 

3. Swollen lymph nodes

Another early sign of breast cancer is swelling or lumps in the lymph nodes, the doctor noted.

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They may show up in the breast itself, in the armpit or in the axilla, the space under the shoulder joint where the arm connects to the shoulder.

An early sign of breast cancer is swelling or lumps in the lymph nodes, the doctor noted. (iStock)

“That can mean not only is there a cancer in the breast, but it has now traveled to the lymph nodes,” Saphier said.

4. Red or inflamed skin

This is one of the most common signs of inflammatory breast cancer, which is a “rare and aggressive type of invasive breast cancer in which cancer cells block lymph vessels in the skin,” according to ACS.

“This is a different cancer in the sense that it doesn’t present as a mass,” Saphier told Fox News Digital.

BREAST CANCER SIGNS, SYMPTOMS TO LOOK OUT FOR, PLUS WHEN TO SCHEDULE ROUTINE SCREENING

People sometimes get treated for weeks or even months for what they think is a skin condition or an allergic reaction when it’s actually an infection, the doctor said. 

“Sometimes what’s manifesting in the skin is because of something a little bit more nefarious going on underneath,” she warned.

The main takeaway, Saphier said, is to pay attention to your body and take action if you notice any changes. (iStock)

Saphier said she often sees patients who have been on steroids or antibiotics, but have never had a biopsy of the skin.

“Until you do that biopsy … you won’t necessarily know that it’s an inflammatory cancer that’s causing these issues,” she said. “And unfortunately, this can lead to a later diagnosis.”

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The main takeaway, Saphier said, is to pay attention to your body and take action if you notice any changes.

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“You know your body better than anybody else,” she said.

“If there’s a change, you should always seek medical guidance and insist on imaging to make sure that there’s nothing going on inside.”