Brazilian hemorrhagic fever

Brazilian hemorrhagic fever (BzHF) is an <a href="/facts/Infectious_disease/182XrncP">infectious disease</a> caused by Sabiá virus, an <a href="/facts/Arenavirus/qXzpWgKn">arenavirus</a>. Sabiá virus is one of the arenaviruses from South America to cause <a href="/facts/Viral_hemorrhagic_fever/TARXxnRD">hemorrhagic fever</a>. It shares a common progenitor with <a href="/facts/Jun%25C3%25ADn_virus/zamf2bJn">Junín virus</a>, <a href="/facts/Machupo_virus/HA0NF8yK">Machupo virus</a>, Tacaribe virus, and <a href="/facts/Guanarito_virus/z7WWfDrp">Guanarito virus</a>. It is an <a href="/facts/Viral_envelope/5P4eqVHn">enveloped</a> <a href="/facts/RNA_virus/qwXPeATD">RNA virus</a> and is highly infectious and lethal. Very little is known about this disease, but it is thought to be transmitted by the excreta of <a href="/facts/Rodent/mT4m8QJq">rodents</a>. This virus has also been implicated as a means for <a href="/facts/Bioterrorism/YW2rmVls">bioterrorism</a>, as it can be spread through <a href="/facts/Aerosol/X1jXFLp2">aerosols</a>.
As of 2019, there had only been four documented infections of Sabiá virus: two occurred naturally, and the other two cases occurred in the clinical setting. The first naturally occurring case was in 1990, when a female agricultural engineer who was staying in the neighborhood of Jardim Sabiá in the municipality of <a href="/facts/Cotia/qVtekNpH">Cotia</a>, a suburb of <a href="/facts/S%25C3%25A3o_Paulo/pPqRTTR0">São Paulo</a>, <a href="/facts/Brazil/QHkG46GL">Brazil</a> contracted the disease. She presented with hemorrhagic fever and died. Her <a href="/facts/Autopsy/GzSXuCH2">autopsy</a> showed liver <a href="/facts/Necrosis/zCPsTeWx">necrosis</a>. A <a href="/facts/Virologist/doDESmsB">virologist</a> who was studying the woman's disease contracted the virus but survived. <a href="/facts/Ribavirin/4NQT4Vuu">Ribavirin</a> was not given in these first two cases. Four years later, in 1994, a researcher was exposed to the virus in a <a href="/facts/Biosafety_level/Akgr5nIf">level 3 biohazard</a> facility at <a href="/facts/Yale_University/KUdS6jt1">Yale University</a> when a <a href="/facts/Centrifuge/EVGu5ndv">centrifuge</a> bottle cracked, leaked, and released aerosolized virus particles. He was successfully treated with <a href="/facts/Ribavirin/4NQT4Vuu">ribavirin</a>.
A fourth case, also naturally acquired in upstate São Paulo, was reported in January 2020. The patient died 12 days after the onset of symptoms.

Brazilian hemorrhagic fever open-in-new

Brazilian hemorrhagic fever