article link: http://outbreaknewstoday.com/south-sudan-hemorrhagic-fever-syndrome-outbreak-not-yellow-fever-cause-remains-elusive-75256/
Good news, everyone – looks like there’s a new hemorrhagic fever on the horizon! There are, as of May, 51 suspected cases (and 10 deaths) of this fever of unknown etiology in South Sudan. Symptoms include all of the run of the mill hemorrhagic fever symptoms, including unexplained bleeding, fever, fatigue, headache and vomiting. The samples were sent to the WHO for testing, and came up negative for all of the known hemorrhagic fevers.
This development is exciting for those of us who study these diseases, but honestly terrifying for everyone else. Given how viscerally scary and disgusting this particular class of diseases are, it’s definitely scary to have new ones popping up out of the blue. It will be interesting to see how far this one will spread, although luckily it looks like there is no documented human to human transmission. I also wonder what lessons we can learn from the Ebola epidemic to minimize harm for this new fever.
Interestingly, a viral agent has not been confirmed, given how new this outbreak is. Bacterial agents and food intoxication are still being explored as possibilities, and it will be fascinating to watch this investigation unfold over the next few weeks and months.
viral hemorrhagic fevers 