The researchers from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have discovered that a rare Ebola-like illness that is believed to have first originated in rural Bolivia in 2004 can spread through human-to-human transmission.
- The virus, which is named Chapare after the province in which it was first observed (Bolivia), causes a hemorrhagic fever much like Ebola along with abdominal pain, vomiting, bleeding gums, skin rash and pain behind the eyes.
- The Chapare hemorrhagic fever (CHHF) is caused by the same arenavirus family that is responsible for illnesses such as the Ebola virus disease (EVD).
- Viral hemorrhagic fevers are a severe and life-threatening kind of illness that can affect multiple organs and damage the walls of blood vessels.
- The biggest outbreak of the ‘Chapare virus’ was reported in 2019, when three healthcare workers contracted the illness from two patients in the Bolivian capital of La Paz. Two of the medical professionals and one patient later died.
(Source: Indian Express)
