Disease Information for Argentine Hemorrhagic fever/Junin: Definition

10-14 day incubation; moderate encephalitis, minor heorrhagic and nephropathy, hepatitis rare;-------------------------- NEW WORLD ARENAVIRAL FEVERS Junin, Machupo, Guanarito, and Sabia viruses, the etiologic agents, respectively, of Argentine, Bolivian, Venezuelan, and Sabia-associated hemorrhagic fevers (AHF, BHF, VHF, SHF), are maintained by specific sigmodontine rodents that are indigenous to the Americas; AHF is almost exclusively an occupational disease of agricultural workers, although more infections are being recorded among children because increasing members of the adult population have been vaccinated and children under 15 have not; Fetal infection and death have been common in pregnant women infected with Junin virus, and the virus has also been isolated from breast milk; BHF and VHF are acquired in a peridomestic setting, and cases occur in all age groups. All four diseases present with a similar nondiagnostic history of fever, headache, myalgia, weakness, and gastrointestinal symptoms; Retroorbital pain, photophobia, and epigastric abdominal pain may occur, but complaints of pharyngitis and other respiratory symptoms are uncommon; Patients become increasingly toxic and develop a flushed appearance, conjunctival injection, and fine petechial eruptions in the oral pharynx, on the upper trunk, and especially in the axillae; Most enter into a convalescent phase after the first week of illness, but more than one-third develop neurologic complications (altered level of consciousness, ataxia, or tremors) or a hypotensive-hemorrhage phase associated with a capillary leak syndrome----[Rudolphs Pediatrics 2002]--------------

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