Panguma is a village in eastern

Sierra Leone Sierra Leone, officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country on the southwest coast of West Africa. It is bordered to the southeast by Liberia and by Guinea to the north. Sierra Leone's land area is . It has a tropical climate and envi ...

, with a population of 7965. The village had previously been the capital of Mende chief Nyagua during the 19th century. The community includes a Catholic hospital, partially supported by missionary work and charity. In 1972, a

nosocomial A hospital-acquired infection, also known as a nosocomial infection (from the Greek , meaning "hospital"), is an infection that is acquired in a hospital or other healthcare facility. To emphasize both hospital and nonhospital settings, it is s ...

outbreak of

Lassa Fever Lassa fever, also known as Lassa hemorrhagic fever, is a type of viral hemorrhagic fever caused by the Lassa virus. Many of those infected by the virus asymptomatic, do not develop symptoms. When symptoms occur they typically include fever, wea ...

in the Panguma Catholic Hospital attracted attention in the United States. In response, in 1976, the

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is the National public health institutes, national public health agency of the United States. It is a Federal agencies of the United States, United States federal agency under the United S ...

(CDC) established research programs in Segbwema, Kenema, and Panguma to study the disease. The village was attacked on March 12, 1994, as part of the Sierra Leone Civil War, killing many of the missionaries working at the hospital. A nearby land concession positively led to diamond retrieval in 2006. Elavation_map_of_Panguma

References

Works cited

* * {{coord, 8.024, -11.758, type:city_region:SL, display=title Villages in Sierra Leone