Medicine Reference Libraries
Lassa fever, first described in 1969 in Lassa, is an acute viral hemorrhagic fever. Clinical cases were known a decade before this but were not associated with this viral pathogen. It is endemic in West African countries and causes approximately 5,000 deaths. The Natal Multimammate Mouse is the primary animal host. The rodent is a source of protein but the virus is usually transmitted by...
Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpesvirus (KSHV) one of seven currently known human cancer virus, is also the eighth human herpesvirus. Kaposi's sarcoma, caused by the virus, is common in AIDS patients, primary effusion lymphoma, and some types of multicentric Castelman's disease. Moritz Kaposi discovered the blood vessel tumor, in 1872, which would eventually be names Kaposi's sarcoma. It...
Influenza A virus causes influenza in birds and some mammals. It is a genus of the Orthomyxoviridae family of viruses. Although the virus is uncommon several strains have been isolated from wild birds. Some can cause severe disease in domestic poultry and sometimes in humans. They are negative sense, single-stranded, segmented RNA viruses. Each subtype has mutated into a variety of strains with...
A human papillomavirus (HPV), a member of the papillomavirus family, is capable of infecting humans. HPVs establish productive infections in the skin or mucous membranes. Most of the 200 known types cause no symptoms in most people. Some types can cause warts, while others can lead to cancer. There are more than 30 to 40 types of HPV that are typically transmitted through sexual contact and...
Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), a lentivirus, causes acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) which is a condition in humans were the immune system begins to fail, leading to life-threatening opportunistic infections. Infection is transferred through bodily fluids where HIV is present as both free virus particles and within infected immune cells. The four most common routes of infection...
Herpes zoster (or zoster), is known as shingles or zona and is a viral disease characterized by painful skin rash with blisters in a limited area on one side of the body. Initial infection causes chickenpox. Once chickenpox is over the virus remains in the body and can cause shingles. It can become latent in the nerve cell bodies and sometimes in the dorsal root, cranial nerve, or autonomic...
Hepatitis A, caused by hepatitis A virus, is an acute infectious disease of the liver that is transmitted person to person by ingestion of contaminated food or water or through direct contact with an infectious person. Millions of people are believed to become infected with HAV every year. The incubation period is two to six weeks and on average is 28 days. In less developed countries the HAV...
Classical swine fever, or hog cholera, is a contagious disease of pigs and wild boar. It causes fever, skin lesions, convulsions, and usually death within 15 days. Symptoms are indistinguishable from those of African swine fever. CSFV, previously called hog cholera virus, is the infectious agent. It is closely related to ruminant pestiviruses which causes Bovine Viral Diarrhea. Effects vary...
Herpes simplex virus 1 and 2 (HSV-1 and HSV-2), are two members of the virus family Herpesviridae that infect humans. They are both ubiquitous and contagious and can spread when an infected person is producing and shedding the virus. Symptoms include watery blisters in the skin, mouth, lips, or genitals. Lesions usually heal with a scab characteristic of herpetic disease. HSV-1 and -2 remain...
Hepatitis C virus (HCV) is an enveloped, positive-sense single-stranded RNA virus of the family Flaviviridae. It consists of a core of genetic material surrounded by an icosahedra protective shell of protein. The genome consists of a single open reading frame that is 9600 nucleotide bases long. HCV replication takes several steps. It primarily replicates in the hepatocytes of the liver. It...
