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Viral Hemorrhagic Fevers
Viral Hemorrhagic Fevers
Fevers
Samwel Odhiambo
Faith Mwende
Ochung Muge
Viral Hemorrhagic Fevers
Severe multi-system syndrome (multiple organs
affected).
Vascular system is damaged and body loses the ability
to regulate itself.
Accompanied by hemorrhaging.
Many VHF viruses cause life threatening diseases
Most have no established treatment or cure.
VHF Caused by Viruses of 4 Families
Arenaviruses
Filoviruses (Ebola and Marburg)
Work with filovirus species requires Biosafety Level 4
(BSL-4) “space suit” containment (HIV requires BSL-2
“space suit” containment).
Bunyaviruses
Flaviviruses
Features of these Viruses
RNA Viruses, covered in lipid coating
Humans are not natural reservoir, but can transmit
virus
Viruses are restricted to areas of their host species
Envelope- making susceptible to detergents, low pH
environments and household bleach
Viral hemorrhagic fever
Marburg
Caused by a zoonotic virus of the filovirus family.
Mortality Rate 23-25%
First recognized in 1967 when simultaneous outbreaks
occurred in Marburg and Frankfurt, Germany, and in
Belgrade, Yugoslavia.
37 people became ill. The ill were mostly
laboratory workers and medical personnel.
Original people who became ill had been exposed
to the tissues of African green monkeys, which
were imported from Uganda for research.
Location:
The area to which the virus is native is unknown, but
it is believed to include parts of Uganda, Western
Kenya, and Zimbabwe.
Transmission
The animal host to the Marburg Virus is unknown,
and so is the way that the animal transmits the disease
to humans.
People who have been exposed to infected monkeys or
their body fluids have become infected in the past.
The disease is easily transmitted between humans.
Direct contact with an infected person, or exposure to
their body fluids, are both ways by which the disease
is thought to be transmitted.
Ebola
Believed to be caused by a zoonotic member of the filovirus
family.
Believed to be carried by an animal host that is native
to Africa.
Named after a river in the Democratic Republic of Congo
in Africa (formerly Zaire) where first outbreak occurred in
1976.
First Ebola outbreak in Zaire (1976)- 318 Human cases,
88% of those people died of the disease.
4 Types of Ebola Virus
Ebola-Zaire
Ebola-Sudan
Ebola-Ivory Coast
Ebola Reston (only know to cause disease in no
human primate)
Location:
The Ebola Virus has
been reported in the
Democratic Republic
of Congo, Gabon,
Sudan, the Ivory
Coast, and Uganda.