Viral hemorrhagic fevers Ebola

Biological Agents BACTERIA (Anthrax, Brucellosis, Cholera, Plague, Tularemia). VIRUSES (Crimean-Congo Hemorrhagic Fever, Rift Valley Fever, Smallpox, Venezuelan Equine Encephalitis (VEE), Viral Hemorrhagic Fever (Ebola)). TOXINS (Botulinum, Ricin, Staphylococcal Enterotoxin B (SEB), Trichothecene Mycotoxins/T-2). 

Viral hemorrhagic fever (e.g., Ebola) Flu-like symptoms, internal bleeding 2 to 21 days... 

Viral A hemorrhagic fevers (Ebola, Marburg, Lassa) Animals— rodents, ticks 4-21 days Yes Contact Fever, massive hemorrhage, malaise, facial/thorax flushing, HA, V/D, hypotension Fatal w/in 2 weeks Supportive, fluid replacement ribavirin for Congo-Crimean HF/arenavi ruses... 

Ebola, Lassa, Machupo, and Marburg are some of the 18 different viruses that cause viral hemorrhagic fever (VHP) in humans and other primates that are classified as Category A biological threat agents (CDC 2007). Ebola is a zoonotic disease of primates and occasionally spreads to human populations that are exposed to these animals (Murray et al. 2005). 

If cases of the disea.se do appear, current social and economic conditions often favor the spread of an epidemic within health-care facilities. Therefore, health-care providers must be able to recognize a case of Ebola HF should one appear. They must also have the capability to perform diagnostic tests and be ready to employ practical viral hemorrhagic fever isolation precautions, or... 

Viral hemorrhagic fevers Variety of routes. Including Insect or arthropod bites, handling contaminated tissues, or person-to-person transmission. Variable (up to 2-3 weeks) These include Ebola, Marburg, Arenaviruses, Hantavirus, several others. Severe multisystem febrile illness with shock, delirium, seizures, and coma, and diffuse bleeding into skin, internal organs, and body orifices. Treatment none isolate victims, provide supportive care. 

FIGURE 3.8 Extensive Ebola viral antigens are seen primarily within fibroblasts in the dermis of a skin specimen from a fatal case of Ebola hemorrhagic fever. (Immunoalkaline phosphatase with naphthol fast red substrate and hematoxylin counterstain original magnification x20.)... 

Deadly tropical fevers are an unfortunate fact of life in Central Africa but rarely are they this contagious or lethal. The plague that afflicted Kikwit was Ebola hemorrhagic fever, a viral disease for which there is no known treatment. Within a few weeks, about 400 people in Kikwit had contracted the virus and 350 were dead. 

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