Viral hemorrhagic fever
| Viral hemorrhagic fever | |
|---|---|
| Other names | viral haemorrhagic fever |
| Two nurses standing near Mayinga N'Seka, a nurse with Ebola virus disease in the 1976 outbreak in Zaire. N'Seka died a few days later due to severe internal hemorrhage. | |
| Specialty | Infectious disease |
Viral hemorrhagic fevers (VHFs) are a diverse group of diseases. "Viral" means a health problem caused by infection from a virus, "hemorrhagic" means to bleed, and "fever" means an unusually high body temperature. Bleeding and fever are common signs of VHFs, which is how the group of infections got its common name.
There are five known families of RNA viruses which cause VHFs: Arenaviridae, Filoviridae, Flaviviridae, Hantaviridae, and Rhabdoviridae. Some VHFs are usually mild, such as nephropathia epidemica (within the family Hantaviridae). But some are usually severe and have a high death rate, such as Ebola virus (within the family Filoviridae). All VHFs can potentially cause severe blood loss, high fever, and death.