RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Viral haemorrhagic fever
JF Clinical Medicine
JO Clin Med
FD Royal College of Physicians
SP 61
OP 66
DO 10.7861/clinmedicine.15-1-61
VO 15
IS 1
A1 Caoimhe Nic Fhogartaigh
A1 Emma Aarons
YR 2015
UL http://www.rcpjournals.org/content/15/1/61.abstract
AB Viral haemorrhagic fevers (VHF) are a range of viral infections with potential to cause life-threatening illness in humans. Apart from Crimean–Congo haemorrhagic fever (CCHF), they are largely confined to Africa, distribution being dependent on the ecology of reservoir hosts. At present, the largest ever epidemic of Ebola virus disease (EVD or Ebola) is occurring in West Africa, raising the possibility that cases could be imported into non-endemic countries. Diagnosis and management is challenging due to the non-specificity of early symptoms, limited laboratory facilities in endemic areas, severity of disease, lack of effective therapy, strict infection control requirements and propensity to cause epidemics with secondary cases in healthcare workers.