Rummaging in the darkness of a tiny mud and thatch home in eastern Sierra Leone, ecologist James Koninga plucks a metal rat trap from under a collapsed bedframe.
The 62-year-old belongs to a group of researchers tracking the deadly Lassa fever, a viral haemorrhagic illness endemic in several West African countries and transmitted by infected rats.
Koninga knows all too well what is at stake — he spent a gruelling 20 days in hospital with a Lassa-induced fever, headache and diarrhoea as a young researcher 30 years ago.
“I thought I was going away, I was going to die,” he said.
Ten years ago, the haemorrhagic Ebola virus devastated this region, killing over 11,000 people across Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia.
Sierra Leone has not recorded an Ebola case since the outbreak ended in 2016, thanks partly to a vaccine rollout.
In Kenema district, an early Ebola epicentre, scientists are using the lessons learned a decade ago to try to stop Lassa fever in its tracks.
With an overall fatality rate of one per cent, Lassa is nowhere near as deadly as Ebola, which kills on average 50 per cent of sufferers, according to the World Health Organization.
But one in five Lassa infections can result in severe illness with a fatality rate of 15 percent.
While cases have largely plateaued in Sierra Leone, researchers are seeing a spread beyond traditional Lassa hotspots.
There is no licensed vaccine and only limited treatment, with the scars of Ebola preventing many from seeking early life-saving help.
– Living with rats –
Monitoring the rodent population is crucial in remote villages like Mapuma, where some 20 houses lie enveloped by dense forest.
“Rats burrow inside the houses for shelter,” explained Koninga, donning a face shield and gloves.
Humans usually contract Lassa virus after having contact with the urine, saliva or droppings of infected rats.
“If people come in from the bush with cuts on them and lie on the bed, they could be infected.”
Proximity to the forest, rudimentary mud construction, and uncovered grain and water storage make the dwellings “five-star hotels” for rats, said Lansana Kanneh, 58, field supervisor at the region’s Kenema Government Hospital (KGH).
“Food is scarce for these people so sometimes they even eat the food that has been partially eaten by the rodent,” he added.
Trappers can find up to 20 rats per day in some villages.
After identifying if the rodents are the Lassa-carrying Mastomys variety, samples are collected for analysis.
The rats then receive an injection that prevents viral transmission before being released.
Lassa virus infects between 100,000 and 300,000 people annually in West Africa, killing roughly 5,000, according to the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention.
However, the figures likely underestimate the true scale given surveillance challenges.
Admissions to the Lassa unit at KGH — Sierra Leone’s only dedicated treatment centre -– have declined in the past decade.
Patients normally arrive in the 14-bed isolation ward during the dry season from November to May, but this once-predictable pattern is increasingly uncertain.
– ‘Lassa blood’ –
“Now we see cases year-round,” said Donald Grant, head of the KGH Lassa fever programme.
The team are also noticing Lassa beyond traditionally endemic zones, with Grant suspecting an improvement in testing as well as deforestation driving rodents into closer contact with humans.
Over the past decade, KGH has also seen an alarming uptick in Lassa patient mortality, which now stands at over 50 per cent.
“We’ve seen a lot of these cases coming in in their late stages,” said Kanneh.
“Sometimes they only spend 24 to 48 hours in the hospital, and they die.”
Rapid detection is the key to survival, but non-specific febrile symptoms mean Lassa is commonly misdiagnosed as malaria, cholera or typhoid.
Hours-long journeys on dirt roads prevent many from seeking treatment.
As does the trauma from Ebola, which killed some 4,000 Sierra Leoneans.
“The community people thought that Ebola was brought by the health workers,” Kanneh said, explaining that a lingering mistrust contributed to reduced admissions.
A KGH team raises awareness in local communities about seeking rapid help and ensuring good domestic hygiene.
It is a message well-received by Musa Mosoh, a 53-year-old Lassa survivor who lost seven family members to the illness.
As the morning rain fell in his village of Panguma — a Lassa red zone — Mosoh recalled how his family had faced stigma from the community.
“Now… people have got the understanding we are not from Lassa blood, it’s just a sickness.”
Mosoh tells those with a continuous fever or headache to go straight to the hospital, and even keeps cats to repel any virus-carrying rodents.
Grant, the doctor, is hopeful of a vaccine in the next few years.
Participants in Nigeria and Liberia are currently being given the first-ever Lassa vaccine to reach phase two trials — the midway point of testing in humans.
But Grant still urges caution.
Ebola “taught us a lesson that we need not wait until that critical moment that it overwhelms all of us,” he said.
“We need to act now.”
AFP
Saudi Arabia has updated its tourist eVisa programme for 2026, limiting eligibility in Africa to only three countries as part of its list of 66 nations whose citizens can apply through the Kingdom’s online visa platform.
The move leaves most African countries, including Nigeria, outside the simplified entry scheme.
The electronic visa allows eligible travellers to visit Saudi Arabia for tourism, leisure activities, family visits and Umrah, excluding the annual Hajj pilgrimage. Applications are completed online, eliminating the need for embassy visits and lengthy visa processing.
Saudi authorities said the eVisa forms part of ongoing efforts to expand tourism, attract international visitors and simplify travel procedures through a fully digital application system. The visa is available only to citizens of approved countries and territories listed on the Kingdom’s official tourism portal.
Below is the list of African countries eligible for Saudi Arabia’s eVisa.
1. Mauritius
2. Seychelles
3. South Africa
The South African government says more than 53,000 foreign nationals have been deported or repatriated since launching a “migration management” campaign five weeks ago.
Most were from Malawi, Zimbabwe, and Mozambique, officials say, and the number is likely to rise as repatriations and deportations continue.
South Africa is carrying out one of its biggest crackdowns on undocumented migrants in years, following weeks of anti-immigration protests that have seen violence, intimidation and looting.
Protesters have been demanding tighter border controls and mass deportations, accusing migrants of contributing to high unemployment, rising crime rates and collapse of public services.
The UN has warned against using migrants as scapegoats for South Africa’s socioeconomic challenges.
Anti-migrant activists have threatened to stage weekly protests to pressure the government until their demands are met, and there are fears the protests could turn violent.
The demonstrators had set an “unofficial deadline” of 30 June for all undocumented migrants to leave the country, which has seen many foreigners leave to escape violence and intimidation.
Several countries, including Ghana, Nigeria, Uganda and Kenya, have flown their citizens home in recent weeks.
Justice and Constitutional Development Minister Mmamoloko Kubayi announced on Sunday that 53,499 foreign nationals have been processed for deportation and repatriation, “which is dominated by the Malawians, followed by Zimbabweans and Mozambicans”.
“We are striving to achieve an orderly and regular migration which is mindful and sensitive to the concerns raised by our people, while observing human rights and dignity of all people in our country, irrespective of their citizenship and immigration status,” Kubayi told a news conference in Pretoria.
She said the repatriation and deportation process has helped them catch people who were wanted by the police for alleged criminal activity.
Authorities will continue to enforce its immigration laws, she added, but warned that protesters should not conduct unauthorised searches of homes and businesses that are suspected of sheltering undocumented migrants.
South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa has acknowledged public concerns about immigration but has condemned attacks against migrants, warning citizens against taking the law into their own hands.
South Africa is the continent’s wealthiest nation and has long attracted migrants searching for better economic opportunities, some of whom enter the country illegally.
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Plans for a 64-team men’s World Cup are set to be assessed after the 2026 tournament, with Fifa boss Gianni Infantino saying the event needs to be “for the whole world”.
The proposal for an expanded tournament was put forward last year, and Infantino says the success of the expanded 48-team tournament means Fifa should look at how a 64-team World Cup could work.
“These are all issues that we will be examining after the World Cup,” Infantino told Swiss broadcaster Blue Sport, external when asked if the tournament could grow to 64 teams.
“When organising a World Cup, it’s important to organise it for the whole world – not just Europe and South America, but effectively the entire world. Every nation should be allowed to dream of participating in the World Cup.
“You can see that the quality of the teams is extremely high, and it’s getting higher and higher, all over the world. If you don’t give smaller countries a chance to participate in the World Cup, they’ll lack the incentive to keep improving.”
Infantino said that the first 48-team World Cup has been “a huge success”, citing the progression of nine out of 10 African teams to the knockout stages.
“At the last World Cup, there were only five teams from Africa,” he said. “That just goes to show how important it is to include all teams – to give them this opportunity to participate.”
The Fifa council approved the expansion of the World Cup from 32 to 48 teams in 2017.
An official proposal to boost the 2030 World Cup to 64 teams was put forward by South American governing body Conmebol in April 2025, but no decision has been reached.
The 2030 edition will be mainly co-hosted by Spain, Portugal and Morocco, with the three opening matches to be hosted by Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay to celebrate the centenary of the competition. Uruguay hosted the first World Cup, in 1930.
Uefa president Aleksander Ceferin is among those to have dismissed the 64-team proposal, with the Slovenian saying it is a “bad idea” for both the tournament itself and the qualifying process.
Asian Football Confederation (AFC) president Sheikh Salman bin Ibrahim Al Khalifa agreed, saying further expansion would bring “chaos”.
Victor Montagliani, president of the governing body for football in North and Central America and the Caribbean (Concacaf), said the suggestion “doesn’t feel right” and he believes the expansion would damage “the broader football ecosystem”.
However, Andrew Giuliani, executive director of the White House’s World Cup task force, said the United States could consider making a bid to host the 2038 World Cup and would be able to “handle it” if expanded to 64 teams.
Fifa’s official position has always been it will discuss expansion ideas with stakeholders and it is duty bound to consider any proposals from council members.
The Fifa council would make the ultimate decision, but there are no signs it is something expected to happen imminently.
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