Classification: ICD-9 078.7; ICD-10 A96
Syndromes and synonyms: Argentinian (Junin virus), Bolivian (Machupo virus), Brazilian (Sabiá virus), and Venezuelan (Guanarito virus) hemorrhagic fevers.
Agent: Tacaribe complex viruses are spherical or pleomorphic, enveloped arenaviruses containing two single-stranded RNA molecules, with four distinct lineages (A, B, C, and a recombinant RecA). Out of more than 20 known arenaviruses, only the following have been associated with human disease: Chapare, Guanarito, Junin, Machupo, Sabiá, and Whitewater Arroyo viruses. All South American hemorrhagic fever viruses, except Whitewater Arroyo virus, are classified as high-priority bioterrorism pathogens. Other Tacaribe complex arenaviruses are capable of infecting humans and possibly cause disease.
Reservoir: Each virus is associated with either one or a few closely related species of rodents, which constitute the virus’s natural reservoir. Tacaribe complex viruses in the New World are generally associated with rats and mice (family Muridae, subfamily Sigmodontinae). The reservoir rodents are chronically infected, and the virus is transmitted among them, leading to lifelong viremia and virus excretion, and they do not die. The reservoir for Junin virus is Calomys musculinus and C. laucha, for Machupo virus, C. callosus, for Guanarito virus Zygodontomys brevicauda, and for Whitewater Arroyo virus Neotoma albigula. For Sabiá and Chapare viruses the reservoir host is unknown.
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