Lassa fever, also known as Lassa hemorrhagic fever (LHF), is a type of viral hemorrhagic fever caused by the Lassa virus. Many of those infected by the virus do not develop symptoms. When symptoms occur they typically include fever, weakness, headaches, vomiting, and muscle pains. Less commonly there may be bleeding from the mouth or gastrointestinal tract. The risk of death once infected is about one percent and frequently occurs within two weeks of the onset of symptoms. Of those who survive, about a quarter have hearing loss, which improves within three months in about half of these cases.
Bolivian hemorrhagic fever (BHF), also known as black typhus or Ordog Fever, is a hemorrhagic fever and zoonotic infectious disease originating in Bolivia after infection by Machupo mammarenavirus.
Lassa mammarenavirus (LASV) is an arenavirus that causes Lassa hemorrhagic fever, a type of viral hemorrhagic fever (VHF), in humans and other primates. Lassa mammarenavirus is an emerging virus and a select agent, requiring Biosafety Level 4-equivalent containment. It is endemic in West African countries, especially Sierra Leone, the Republic of Guinea, Nigeria, and Liberia, where the annual incidence of infection is between 300,000 and 500,000 cases, resulting in 5,000 deaths per year.
An arenavirus is a bi- or trisegmented ambisense RNA virus that is a member of the family Arenaviridae. These viruses infect rodents and occasionally humans. A class of novel, highly divergent arenaviruses, properly known as reptarenaviruses, have also been discovered which infect snakes to produce inclusion body disease. At least eight arenaviruses are known to cause human disease. The diseases derived from arenaviruses range in severity. Aseptic meningitis, a severe human disease that causes inflammation covering the brain and spinal cord, can arise from the lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus. Hemorrhagic fever syndromes, including Lassa fever, are derived from infections such as Guanarito virus, Junin virus, Lassa virus, Lujo virus, Machupo virus, Sabia virus, or Whitewater Arroyo virus. Because of the epidemiological association with rodents, some arenaviruses and bunyaviruses are designated as roboviruses.
Lymphocytic choriomeningitis (LCM) is a rodent-borne viral infectious disease that presents as aseptic meningitis, encephalitis or meningoencephalitis. Its causative agent is lymphocytic choriomeningitis mammarenavirus (LCMV), a member of the family Arenaviridae. The name was coined by Charles Armstrong in 1934.
Venezuelan hemorrhagic fever (VHF) is a zoonotic human illness first identified in 1989. The disease is most prevalent in several rural areas of central Venezuela and is caused by Guanarito mammarenavirus (GTOV) which belongs to the Arenaviridae family. The short-tailed cane mouse is the main host for GTOV which is spread mostly by inhalation of aerosolized droplets of saliva, respiratory secretions, urine, or blood from infected rodents. Person-to-person spread is possible, but uncommon.
An emergent virus is a virus that is either newly appeared, notably increasing in incidence/geographic range or has the potential to increase in the near future. Emergent viruses are a leading cause of emerging infectious diseases and raise public health challenges globally, given their potential to cause outbreaks of disease which can lead to epidemics and pandemics. As well as causing disease, emergent viruses can also have severe economic implications. Recent examples include the SARS-related coronaviruses, which have caused the 2002-2004 outbreak of SARS (SARS-CoV-1) and the 2019–21 pandemic of COVID-19 (SARS-CoV-2). Other examples include the human immunodeficiency virus which causes HIV/AIDS; the viruses responsible for Ebola; the H5N1 influenza virus responsible for avian flu; and H1N1/09, which caused the 2009 swine flu pandemic. Viral emergence in humans is often a consequence of zoonosis, which involves a cross-species jump of a viral disease into humans from other animals. As zoonotic viruses exist in animal reservoirs, they are much more difficult to eradicate and can therefore establish persistent infections in human populations.
Argentinian mammarenavirus, better known as the Junin virus or Junín virus (JUNV), is an arenavirus in the Mammarenavirus genus that causes Argentine hemorrhagic fever (AHF). The virus took its original name from the city of Junín, around which the first cases of infection were reported, in 1958.
The Awash multimammate mouse or Awash mastomys is a species of rodent in the family Muridae found only in Ethiopia. Phylogentically the Awash multimammate mouse is the sister taxon of the Natal multimammate mouse, a species found almost everywhere in Africa south of the Sahara and considered a serious agricultural pest throughout its range.
The southern multimammate mouse or southern African mastomys is a species of rodent in the family Muridae which is endemic to southern Africa. It is called a multimammate mouse because it can have 8 to 12 pairs of mammae, in comparison other mouse species only have 5 pairs.
The Natal multimammate mouse is a species of rodent in the family Muridae. It is also known as the Natal multimammate rat, the common African rat, or the African soft-furred mouse. The Natal multimammate rat is the natural host of the Lassa fever virus.
Chapare mammarenavirus or Chapare virus is a virus from the family Arenaviridae which causes a hemorrhagic fever in humans known as Chapare hemorrhagic fever. It was first described after an outbreak of a novel zoonotic mammarenavirus infection occurred in the village of Samuzabeti, Chapare Province, Bolivia, in January 2003. A small number of people were infected and one person died.
Powassan encephalitis, caused by the Powassan virus (POWV), a flavivirus also known as the deer tick virus, is a form of arbovirus infection that results from tick bites. It can occur as a co-infection with Lyme disease since both are transmitted to humans by the same species of tick. There has been a surge in the number of cases and geographic range in the last decade. In the United States, cases have been recorded in the northeast. The disease was first isolated from the brain of a boy who died of encephalitis in Powassan, Ontario, in 1958. The disease is a zoonosis, an animal disease, usually found in rodents and ticks, with spillover transmission to humans. The virus is antigenically related to the Far Eastern tick-borne encephalitis viruses.
A robovirus is a zoonotic virus that is transmitted by a rodent vector.
Lujo is a bisegmented RNA virus—a member of the family Arenaviridae—and a known cause of viral hemorrhagic fever (VHF) in humans. Its name was suggested by the Special Pathogens Unit of the National Institute for Communicable Diseases of the National Health Laboratory Service (NICD-NHLS) by using the first two letters of the names of the cities involved in the 2008 outbreak of the disease, Lusaka (Zambia) and Johannesburg. It is the second pathogenic Arenavirus to be described from the African continent—the first being Lassa virus—and since 2012 has been classed as a "Select Agent" under U.S. law.
Brazilian hemorrhagic fever (BzHF) is an infectious disease caused by Brazilian mammarenavirus, an arenavirus. Brazilian mammarenavirus is one of the arenaviruses from South America to cause hemorrhagic fever. It shares a common progenitor with Argentinian mammarenavirus, Machupo mammarenavirus, Tacaribe mammarenavirus, and Guanarito mammarenavirus. It is an enveloped RNA virus and is highly infectious and lethal. Very little is known about this disease, but it is thought to be transmitted by the excreta of rodents. This virus has also been implicated as a means for bioterrorism, as it can be spread through aerosols.
Wesselsbron(WSL)virus is an arthropod-borne virus in the genus Flavivirus of the family Flaviviridae that causes Wesselsbron disease in cattle, sheep, goats, camels, pigs, donkeys, horses, ostriches, and wild ruminants with occasional incidental spillover to humans. It is transmitted by mosquitoes in the genus Aedes including A. caballus and A. circumluteolus.
Mammarenavirus is a genus of viruses in the family Arenaviridae. The name is a portmanteau of mammal and the former name Arenavirus, and differentiates it from the reptile-associated Reptarenavirus. Arenavirus comes from the Latin arena (sand) for the sandy appearance of the virions.
Whitewater Arroyo mammarenavirus (WWAV) is a zoonotic Arenavirus associated with hemorrhagic fever with liver failure.
Morogoro virus is an East African arenavirus infecting the multimammate mouse. The virus is genetically closely related to Lassa virus, known to cause Lassa fever in humans. Morogoro virus, however, does not seem to infect humans. Transmission of Morogoro virus between mice is assumed to occur via direct and indirect contact. Infected animals pass a latent period of 7 days and subsequently shed the virus for about 30 days, after which they recover and develop lifelong antibodies. Transmission may also be possible from infected mothers to offspring and through sexual contact, as this has been suggested for other arenaviruses.
