Viral hemorrhagic fevers (VHFs) are caused by four different families of RNA viruses:
Family | Viruses Included |
Filoviridae | Ebola and Marburg |
Arenaviridae | Lassa fever |
Bunyaviridae | Hantaviruses |
Flaviviridae | Yellow fever and dengue |
There are several characteristics that these four families of viruses have in common:
- ALL are single-stranded RNA viruses
- ALL are contained within a lipid/fatty envelope
- ALL require an animal or insect host (known as the natural reservoir) for their survival
- NONE use humans as their natural reservoir