Scientists identify new lethal virus in Africa
Pastor Dale Morgan
Scientists identify new lethal virus in Africa*
May 28, 9:14 PM (ET)
By MIKE STOBBE
ATLANTA (AP) - Scientists have identified a lethal new virus in Africa
that causes bleeding like the dreaded Ebola virus. The so-called
"Lujo" virus infected five people in Zambia and South Africa last
fall. Four of them died, but a fifth survived, perhaps helped by a
medicine recommended by the scientists.
It's not clear how the first person became infected, but the bug comes
from a family of viruses found in rodents, said Dr. Ian Lipkin, a
Columbia University epidemiologist involved in the discovery.
"This one is really, really aggressive" he said of the virus.
A paper on the virus by Lipkin and his collaborators was published
online Thursday on in PLoS Pathogens.
The outbreak started in September, when a female travel agent who
lives on the outskirts of Lusaka, Zambia, became ill with a fever-like
illness that quickly grew much worse.
She was airlifted to Johannesburg, South Africa, where she died.
A paramedic in Lusaka who treated her also became sick, was
transported to Johannesburg and died. The three others infected were
health care workers in Johannesburg.
Investigators believe the virus spread from person to person through
contact with infected body fluids.
"It's not a kind of virus like the flu that can spread widely," said
Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and
Infectious Diseases, which helped fund the research.
The name given to the virus - "Lujo" - stems from Lusaka and
Johannesburg, the cities where it was first identified.
Investigators in Africa thought the illness might be Ebola, because
some of the patients had bleeding in the gums and around needle
injection sites, said Stuart Nichol, chief of the molecular biology
lab in the CDC's Special Pathogens Branch. Other symptoms include
include fever, shock, coma and organ failure.
Genetic extracts of blood and liver from the victims were tested at
Columbia University in New York, and additional testing was done at
CDC in Atlanta. Tests determined it belonged to the arenavirus family,
and that it is distantly related to Lassa fever, another disease found
in Africa.
The drug ribavirin, which is given to Lassa victims, was given to the
fifth Lujo virus patient - a Johannesburg nurse. It's not clear if the
medicine made a difference or if she just had a milder case of the
disease, but she fully recovered, Nichol said.
The research is a startling example of how quickly scientists can now
identify new viruses, Fauci said. Using genetic sequencing techniques,
the virus was identified in a matter of a few days - a process that
used to take weeks or longer.
Along with Fauci's institute, the National Heart, Lung, and Blood
Institute and Google also helped fund the research.
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On the Net:
PLoS Pathogens: http://www.plospathogens.org/home.action