Word: arenaviruses
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Even so, the accident has raised questions about whether such dangerous disease agents are being handled carefully enough. Sabia and several related viruses -- Junin, Machupo and Guanarito in South America and Lassa in Africa, all members of the arenavirus family -- are particularly frightening because they can kill in such a grisly way. Characteristic symptoms are high fever, uncontrolled bleeding in virtually every organ and finally shock. The liver turns yellow and decomposes. Blood can leak from literally every bodily orifice, including the eyes and the pores of the skin...
...while some other arenaviruses have been known to doctors for at least two decades, Sabia was never seen before 1990. In that year, a female agricultural engineer checked into a hospital in Sao Paulo, Brazil, with a high fever. Within days she was dead. Brazilian scientists tried to identify the infectious agent; one of their number fell ill and nearly died in the process. But they could determine only that it was a member of the arenavirus clan, so they sent a sample on to Yale for further identification...
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