VIRAL HEMORRHAGIC FEVER

(Redirected from Hemorrhagic fever)

'Viral hemorrhagic fevers' ('VHFs') are a group of illnesses that are caused by several distinct families of viruses: Arenavirus, Filoviridae, Bunyaviridae and Flavivirus. Some of these cause relatively mild illnesses, such as the Scandinavian Nephropathia epidemica, whilst others can cause severe, life-threatening disease. Examples include Lassa fever, Marburg virus, Ebola virus, Bolivian haemorrhagic fever, Hantaviruses (Korean hemorrhagic fever), Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever, and Dengue hemorrhagic fever.
As of August 30, 2007, 103 people (100 adults and three children) have died due to a suspected hemorrhagic fever outbreak in the village of Mweka in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The outbreak started after the funerals of two village chiefs, and 217 people in four villages have fallen ill due to the disease. The World Health Organisation has sent a team to take blood samples for analysis if it is haemorrhagic fever. The Congo's last major Ebola epidemic killed 245 people in 1995 in Kikwit, about 200 miles from the source of the current outbreak.^[1]

Contents

Sites of notable outbreaks

See also

Sources

Sites of notable outbreaks

★ Mékambo in Gabon is the site of several outbreaks of Ebola hemorrhagic fever.

★ Orientale, Congo villages of Durba and Watsa were the epicenter of the 1998–2000 outbreak of Marburg hemorrhagic fever.

★ Uige Province in Angola is the site of world's worst haemorrhagic fever epidemic, which occurred in 2005.

See also

★ Biological agent

★ Biopreparat is a leader in the development of bioweapons.

★ Bioterrorism

★ Fever

★ List of viruses

Sources

1. BBC NEWS, Mystery DR Congo fever kills 100


★ Health Protection Agency