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Many may have met fever victim

TRENTON - Federal and state health officials have identified more than 150 people who might have had contact with a patient who died of Lassa fever, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Thursday.

TRENTON - Federal and state health officials have identified more than 150 people who might have had contact with a patient who died of Lassa fever, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Thursday.

So far, most of those people face no danger, but six are at a high risk of having been exposed, CDC spokesman Benjamin Haynes said in a statement. All of those potentially exposed are being monitored, Haynes said.

A New Jersey man died Monday after traveling in West Africa and returning May 17 to New York City. Officials have said he did not have symptoms on the plane but later developed a sore throat and lethargy, and went to a hospital.

University Hospital in Newark said Tuesday the man was transferred there Saturday from another hospital because it could deal with viral hemorrhagic fevers. The hospital said it was reviewing whether any of its employees were at risk of exposure to the virus.

St. Barnabas Medical Center in Livingston said in a statement Wednesday that the 55-year-old man came to the emergency room May 18 and was treated. He returned three days later with a sore throat, fever, and tiredness, and was later transferred to University Hospital.

The disease is far less likely to be fatal than Ebola. It does not spread through casual contact, but rather through contact with the blood, feces, or vomit of an infected person, or the urine or droppings of infected rodents.