Clinical Features and Patient Management of Lujo Hemorrhagic Fever

In 2008 a nosocomial outbreak of five cases of viral hemorrhagic fever due to a novel arenavirus, Lujo virus, occurred in Johannesburg, South Africa. Lujo virus is only the second pathogenic arenavirus, after Lassa virus, to be recognized in Africa and the first in over 40 years. Because of the remote, resource-poor, and often politically unstable regions where Lassa fever and other viral hemorrhagic fevers typically occur, there have been few opportunities to undertake in-depth study of their clinical manifestations, transmission dynamics, pathogenesis, or response to treatment options typically available in industrialized countries.