A "genetically distinct" virus that causes bleeding and shock has killed at least one man in a remote
part of Bolivia. The highly deadly organism appears to be carried by rodents, according to a report released in the Public Library of Science journal PLoS Pathogens.
They have named the new virus the Chapare arenavirus, and say it is
related to the viruses that cause Lassa fever and other rare
viruses such as Junin, Machupo, Guanarito, and Sabia viruses. They
have about a 30 percent fatality rate. But it is genetically distinct."It is quite a unique virus and we are suggesting that it be
considered as a new species of arenavirus," Stuart Nichol of the
U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, who helped study
the virus, said in a telephone interview.
The 22-year-old man was one of several who died of hemorrhagic
fever near Cochabamba, Bolivia. A team of Bolivian health
authorities and U.S. Navy health experts from Lima, Peru, got the
samples.
Link to Reuters item, and here's the original report in PLoS. Image: "Map of Bolivia showing location of the Chapare virus-associated HF case relative to the Beni region where Machupo virus-associated HF cases originate." (thanks, Mike Outmesguine)
