New Killer Virus In Africa

In what may be called a major breakthrough in virology, researchers at the Columbia University in New York and at Centers for Disease Control and Protection (CDC) in Atlanta have discovered a new deadly germ that leads to blood loss much akin to the atrocious Ebola virus. The virus, named Lujo, has already contaminated five persons in South Africa and Zambia last winter. Four victims of the pathogen have succumbed to their infections, while the fifth succeed in overcoming the contagion possibly following the use of a medication suggested by the scientists studying the virus.

According to Dr. Ian Lipkin, an epidemiologist associated with the Columbia University who is engaged in the discovery of the deadly virus, although it is yet to be ascertained how the first victim came in contact with the germ, it has been established that the virus hails from a family of pathogens present in the rodents. He says that the new virus is not only deadly, but also extremely destructive.

In effect, the spate of the virus commenced in September last year when a female travel agent living on the fringes of Lusaka in Zambia suddenly contacted an illness akin to fever that worsened rapidly. Though the lady was rushed by air to Johannesburg in South Africa, the doctors could not save her and she succumbed to the infection there. What is worse that a paramedic who took care of the lady in Lusaka also fell sick and was taken to Johannesburg, but eventually succumbed to the virus attack. The other three victims of the pathogen were also health workers from Johannesburg.

Researches are of the opinion that the deadly virus spread passes on from one person to another by way of getting in touch with the contaminated body fluids. Researchers have named the new pathogen as Lujo, which has been derived from the names of the African cities Lusaka and Johannesburg where the virus was first spotted. According to Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, an organization that had financed the study, the deadly Lujo virus is unlike any other pathogen or akin to the flu virus that spreads rapidly and extensively.

Initially, the African researches were of the view that the ailment could be Ebola as some of the patients affected with the virus had symptoms of bleeding gums and approximately needle inoculation spots. The chief of the molecular biology laboratory in the Pathogens Branch of the Centers for Disease Control and Protection (CDC) in Atlanta, Stuart Nichol said that the other symptoms found in the patients included fever, coma and organ failure.

Later, blood and liver samples of the Lujo virus attack victims were sent to the United States, at the Columbia University in New York and the CDC in Atlanta. Examinations conducted by the scientists at these two organizations concluded that the virus was a member of the arenavirus family and is also vaguely associated with another disease prevalent in Africa and known as the Lassa fever. According to Stuart Nichol, the drug prescribed for treating the Lassa fever - ribavirin - was also administered to a nurse from Johannesburg who was the fifth victim of the virus infection and managed to recuperate. Nichol, however, says that the scientists are not sure whether this drug worked for the victim or she managed to recover completely as the virus infection was of very mild nature.

Describing the success of the research as amazing, Dr. Anthony Fauci pointed out that this has demonstrated how swiftly scientists are able to recognize new viruses. In this case, the scientists made use of the genetic progression procedure which helped them to identify Lujo in a few days’ time. Earlier, the process of identifying a new virus took quite a few weeks or even longer periods.