Scientists have identified a lethal new virus in Africa that causes bleeding like the dreaded Ebola virus. A recently identified virus that causes bleeding similar to the Ebola virus has been discovered in Africa late last week.
Already killing four of the five people it has infected, the Lujo virus, named after Lusaka, Zambia and Johannesburg, the cities it originated in, has proved to be more lethal than its Ebola counterpart.
Comparably, 50% to 90% of people inflected with Ebola die; whereas 4 of the 5 cases of Lujo have been fatal.
It spread quickly; the first case was a travel agent outside of Lusaka who became ill, and quickly got worse. She died after being airlifted to Johannesburg. The paramedic who treated her in Lusaka became infected, along with three health workers in Johannesburg.
Although researchers are not sure how the first patient was infected, Lujo comes from a family of viruses that is often found in rodents. Inhaling dust infected with rodent waste was likely the first contamination, followed by spreading through body fluids.
Blood and liver samples from the deceased were sent to the United States, where tests determined it belonged to the arenavirus family, and distantly related to Lassa fever, another disease found in Africa.
Lassa victims are given ribavirin; the drug was also given to the fifth Lujo patient, who then combated the virus. Researchers noted they it wasn’t clear whether it was the treatment or just a milder case of the disease.
“The research is a startling example of how quickly scientists can now identify new viruses,” commented Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, which helped fund the research. Their techniques identified the virus in a few days, as opposed to the weeks it used to take.
Along with Fauci’s institute, the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute and Google also helped fund the research.
A paper on the virus by Lipkin and his collaborators was published online Thursday on in PLoS Pathogens.
Image courtesy of dad2059.wordpress.com
Follow us on Twitter
Become an Ecoki Author
How to request a hands-on review
Join the Ecoki Kiva Lending Team to help people around the world!
