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Summary

Viral hemorrhagic fevers (VHFs) are a group of illnesses caused by four families of viruses. These include the Ebola and Marburg, Lassa fever, and yellow fever viruses. VHFs have common features: they affect many organs, they damage the blood vessels, and they affect the body's ability to regulate itself. Some VHFs cause mild disease, but some, like Ebola or Marburg, cause severe disease and death.

VHFs are found around the world. Specific diseases are usually limited to areas where the animals that carry them live. For example, Lassa fever is limited to rural areas of West Africa where rats and mice carry the virus.

The risk for travelers is low, but you should avoid visiting areas where there are disease outbreaks. Because there are no effective treatments for some of these viral infections, there is concern about their use in bioterrorism.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Start Here

• About Viral Hemorrhagic Fevers (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)
• Viral Hemorrhagic Fevers (Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research) Also in Spanish

Related Issues

• Travelers' Health: Yellow Fever (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)

Specifics

• About Crimean-Congo Hemorrhagic Fever (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)
• About Lassa Fever (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)
• About Marburg Disease (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)
• About Nipah Virus (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)
• About Rift Valley Fever (RVF) (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)
• Clinician Brief: Hemorrhagic Fever with Renal Syndrome (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)
• Crimean-Congo Haemorrhagic Fever (World Health Organization) Also in Spanish
• Marburg Virus Disease (World Health Organization)
• Yellow Fever Vaccine (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)
• Yellow Fever Virus (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)

Clinical Trials

• ClinicalTrials.gov: Hemorrhagic Fevers, Viral (National Institutes of Health)
• ClinicalTrials.gov: Lassa Fever (National Institutes of Health)
• ClinicalTrials.gov: Yellow Fever (National Institutes of Health)

Journal Articles References and abstracts from MEDLINE/PubMed (National Library of Medicine)

• Article: Bioterrorism potential of haemorrhagic fever viruses - occupational and environmental Implications...
• Article: Virucidal Approaches for Hemorrhagic Fever Viruses.
• Article: Evaluation of a Luminex-Based Multiplex Immunoassay of Hemorrhagic Fever Viruses in...
• Hemorrhagic Fevers -- see more articles

Find an Expert

• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Also in Spanish
• National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases
• World Health Organization

Patient Handouts

• Yellow fever (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish
• Yellow Fever Vaccine: What You Need to Know (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) - PDF Also in Spanish