About our e-newsletters
- Free e-newsletters
- Mayo Clinic expertise
- We do not share your e-mail address
Housecall, our weekly general-interest e-newsletter, keeps you up to date on a wide variety of health topics with timely, reliable, practical information, recipes, blogs, questions and answers with Mayo Clinic experts and more. Our biweekly topic-specific e-newsletters also include blogs, questions and answers with Mayo Clinic experts, and other useful information that will help you manage your health.
Housecall Archives
Mayo Clinic Housecall
Stay up to date on the latest health information.
What you get
- Free weekly e-newsletter
- Mayo Clinic expertise
- Recipes, tools and other helpful information
- We do not share your e-mail address
Causes
By Mayo Clinic staffThe viruses that cause viral hemorrhagic fevers live naturally in a variety of animal and insect hosts — most commonly mosquitoes, ticks, rodents or bats.
Each of these hosts typically lives in a specific geographic area, so each particular disease usually occurs only where that virus's host normally lives. Some viral hemorrhagic fevers also can be transmitted from person to person.
How is it transmitted?
The route of transmission varies by specific virus. Some viral hemorrhagic fevers are spread by mosquito or tick bites. Others are transmitted by contact with infected blood or semen. A few varieties are breathed in if you're around infected rat feces or urine.
If you travel to an area where a particular hemorrhagic fever is common, you may become infected there and then develop symptoms after you return home.
- Bell M. Viral hemorrhagic fevers. In: Goldman L, et al. Cecil Medicine. 23rd ed. Philadelphia Pa.: Saunders Elsevier; 2007. http://www.mdconsult.com/das/book/body/206119449-3/1014371662/1492/1348.html#4-u1.0-B978-1-4160-2805-5..50409-2_16895. Accessed June 11, 2010.
- Viral hemorrhagic fever (VHF): Current, comprehensive information on pathogenesis, microbiology, epidemiology, diagnosis, treatment and prophylaxis. Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy. http://www.cidrap.umn.edu/cidrap/content/bt/vhf/biofacts/vhffactsheet.html. Accessed June 11, 2010.
- Viral hemorrhagic fevers: Fact sheet. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dvrd/spb/mnpages/dispages/vhf.htm. Accessed June 11, 2010.
- Farnon EC, et al. Viral hemorrhagic fevers. 2010 Yellow Book. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. http://wwwnc.cdc.gov/travel/yellowbook/2010/chapter-5/viral-hemorrhagic-fevers.aspx. Accessed June 11, 2010.
- Peters CJ. What are VHFs and how can we respond medically? In: Mandell GL, et al. Mandell, Douglas and Bennett's Principles and Practice of Infectious Diseases. 7th ed. Philadelphia, Pa.: Churchill Livingstone Elsevier; 2009. http://www.mdconsult.com/book/player/book.do?method=display&type=bookPage&decorator=header&eid=4-u1.0-B978-0-443-06839-3..00327-1&uniq=205678381&isbn=978-0-443-06839-3&sid=1012990473#lpState=opened&lpTab=contentsTab&content=4-u1.0-B978-0-443-06839-3..00327-1--s0020%3Bfrom%3Dtoc%3Btype%3DbookPage%3Bisbn%3D978-0-443-06839-3. Accessed June 14, 2010.
- Zielinski-Gutierrez E, et al. Protection against mosquitoes, ticks and other insects and arthropods. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. http://wwwnc.cdc.gov/travel/yellowbook/2010/chapter-2/protection-against-mosquitoes-ticks-insects-arthropods.aspx. Accessed June 17, 2010.
- Clean up rodent food sources and nesting sites. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. http://www.cdc.gov/rodents/prevent_infestations/clean_up.html. Accessed June 17, 2010.
Find Mayo Clinic on