New viruses in Europe

Dengue is already a global infection. Virus-borne illness resembles West Nile fever in symptoms and, in severe cases, even hemorrhagic fever. It is accompanied by a severe rash. Viruses that cause infection come in four strains, and even successful infection with one type of virus gives only short-term resistance to infection with other dengue viruses. Fortunately, 80 percent. In cases, the disease is mild, with no symptoms (except for fever), but children are at risk of developing severe disease. Complications include weakness and the syndrome of quick fatigue, sometimes lasting for years. The virus is transmitted by mosquitoes, especially those belonging to the species Aedes aegyptii and A.albopictus. It does not spread from person to person. Dengue cases have already been reported in Italy and France, the Balkans are also at risk, and as the climate warms up, mosquitoes and the virus they transmit will appear in Central Europe.

Marburg is one of the viruses with the highest infectivity. He took its name from the place where the infection was first found – a small town on the Lahn River in Germany. It is a hemorrhagic fever virus that has already infected in Europe. The first to be infected were the lab technicians in Marburg, who got infected from infected monkeys imported from Uganda; So transmission from animals to humans is very easy. Marburg causes convulsions, bleeding from the mucous membranes and tissues of internal organs, shock and death. It is somewhat reminiscent of the Ebola virus, and so is the average mortality rate of 90%. Interestingly, in the case of the first infections, it was 25%, but during the infections in Africa, in the Democratic Republic of Congo in 1998-2000, it was already 80%, similar to the local epidemic in Angola in 2005. Marburg, like Ebola, can be infected through contact with the blood or body fluids of infected people or animals. In the case of the Marburg virus, they are monkeys, in the case of Ebola – probably also fruit bats.

Ebola is divided into five strains, named after the countries and regions of Africa: Zaire, Sudan, Tai Forest, Bundibugyo, and Reston. The most dangerous and infectious strain responsible for most of the current epidemics is Zaire. As in the case of Marburg virus, Ebola causes hemorrhagic fever with high temperature, mucous and internal bleeding, shock and death. Although the mortality rate for both diseases is similar, the death rate during the latest Ebola epidemic has decreased as it progressed, and it has increased in the Marburg virus outbreak. Currently, Zaire Ebola’s habitat is Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia and possibly the northern regions of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The most recent epidemic between 2014 and 2015 passed through Nigeria, Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, killing 700 people according to official estimates. However, about 150 were saved. Cases of the disease among Europeans and Americans working in the epidemic areas resulted in the death of 5 people. Infection is possible after contact with the blood of sick animals or humans – or with other body fluids, such as saliva. Infection, as with Ebola, is likely to be via monkeys or fruit bats, but scientists are still unsure. In the 70s and 80s, the USSR worked on converting Ebola into a biological weapon. However, according to unofficial information, these attempts were unsuccessful with many deaths among the staff conducting the study.

Hanta viruses do not need to be imported to Europe, they are among us, also in Poland. They are rodent-related viruses. They cause two diseases: the first is hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome (HFRS) and the second is hantavirus pulmonary syndrome (HPS). Haemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome is a milder but more widespread disease in Europe. In Poland, as early as 2006, epidemiologists from the Chief Sanitary Inspectorate estimated that hantaviruses attacked around 300 people all over Poland. Currently, the number of hantavirus victims has not been estimated, but unofficially it is known that thousands of people may be infected. As with hemorrhagic fevers, the course of the disease is rapid in HFRS as well. Within 72 hours of infection, there is a high fever (about 40 degrees C), liver and kidney disorders, edema, internal hemorrhages, as the permeability of the capillaries increases. Fortunately, the mortality rate in HFRS is 15-18%, with young children most at risk. Infection with hantavirus occurs through contact with the secretions of sick rodents – urine and feces. According to epidemiologists from the USA, the easiest way to get infected with them is by cleaning an old summer cottage in which many rodents lived and they left behind dried feces with the virus. However, there is no human-to-human transmission of the virus. Worse in the case of the second disease – hantavirus pulmonary syndrome. Here, after the HFRS-like phase characterized by fever, muscle aches, nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain, dizziness, comes pulmonary edema, which represents respiratory failure. The mortality rate ranges from 40 to 60 percent, and in the case of late diagnosis, the victim has virtually no chance. Fortunately, the most common hantavirus that transmits the disease – the Sin Nombre strain – is only found in North America. However, rodents that carry it are more and more often farmed animals in Asia and America (e.g. cotton, rice and mice), and this way they easily get to Europe. A second way of transporting them is through shipping, where rodents are often “stowaways”.

Lassa is a relatively poorly recognized and so far considered endemic in West Africa hemorrhagic fever virus. It has been reported in Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Guinea, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Senegal and Mali. However, cases of infection with lasso fever, caused by the virus, have already been observed in the USA, Great Britain, France, Israel, Japan and the Netherlands. Lasso fever causes symptoms similar to those of Ebola infection, and in the acute phase, the mortality rate is 70%. It is a surprise, however, that 80 percent. infections makes the disease asymptomatic (except for sudden evening temperature jumps). Which does not mean that without effects – the virus, once it is established in the body, gradually disrupts the immune system, depriving the patient of immunity to other diseases. So far, there is no vaccine for lasso fever, although – according to American scientists – 15 percent. rodents throughout West Africa carry the virus. And they are the main source of infection.

The CCHF virus (Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever) is another highly specialized virus that causes hemorrhagic fever, known as Crimean Congo. It is a surprise that its center of occurrence is “a stone’s throw” from the Polish borders and it is not known exactly whether it has already exceeded them. Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever was reported for the first time in Soviet and German soldiers in 1943-1944 during the fighting in Crimea and the south of the USSR. Since 1969, its presence has been confirmed in: Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Pakistan, Iraq and throughout the Arabian Peninsula, Our Country (mainly around Rostov and Astrakhan), in northwest China, South and Central Africa, and in the Balkans – mainly in Albania , Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina, but also in Bulgaria. CCHF is easiest to get from ticks or from sick animals that have come into contact with ticks. The course of the disease is identical to that of other hemorrhagic fevers, and the mortality rate is up to 50%; People with low immunity and the elderly are most at risk.

Junin virus and Machupo also cause hemorrhagic fever. They were attributed to Bolivia and Argentina, where the first causes the so-called black typhus, and the second – Junin fever, but after 2010 cases of this fever were detected in the US and Western Europe. Probably the viruses transmit rodents and can be infected by hitting the place with their urine (urine suspension in the air contains a large amount of viruses). The course of the disease is the same as in other hemorrhagic fevers, but the mortality rate is lower, up to 30%. and only among people with damaged immune systems. Brazilian scholars say that black typhus healers are more resistant to other hemorrhagic fevers, and research into this possible immunity is ongoing.

It causes West Nile fever which has, as in flu cases, increased temperature, headache and muscle aches, sometimes a slight rash or enlarged lymph nodes. In more severe cases, there are also nausea, vomiting, muscle weakness, coordination disorders, and disturbed consciousness. Some of the infected will go through West Nile Fever without complications, others will experience pain in the muscles, concentration, coordination, memory and even depression for a lifetime. These people will no longer be able to work. The virus is transmitted to humans from birds to mammals and mosquitoes. Patients do not infect, but the infection can spread from mother to fetus. West Nile fever has already been observed in Romania, Our Country, Ukraine, Hungary and the Balkan countries. Single cases were also observed in Poland. It is worth mentioning that mosquitoes that carry hemorrhagic fever viruses belong to the species Aedes aegyptii and Aedes albopictus, which are permanently absent in Poland, but more and more often appear in our country due to global warming.

Chikungunya virus causes the disease with this very name. It is very similar to West Nile fever, both in terms of symptoms and effects, although chikungunya virus infections do not get sick as long as they do with West Nile virus infections. As with this virus and chikungunya it is transmitted by mosquitoes. The difference is the absence of neurological disorders in the course of the disease and after its termination, and a severe rash during the course of the disease. The disease has already occurred in France and Italy; Both in the case of West Nile virus, dengue and chikungunya, the appearance of these diseases cannot be associated with migrants from Africa. There is no transmission between people and both immigrants and permanent residents of these countries suffer from the disease, especially the less resilient whites.

It is impossible to talk about viruses, and not to forget about influenza viruses. Climate change greatly facilitates their transmission and accelerates the occurrence of epidemics. In the case of influenza, there is no question of one virus because, according to some epidemiologists, the variability of these viruses is so rapid that within two years you deal with practically two different viruses “embedded on the same platform”, i.e. type A. variability, infection with the most common seasonal influenza virus – H1N1 – is not as common today as it was a few years ago. In the 2015/2016 flu season, apart from the H1N1 strain California, H5N1 strains (“bird flu”), H3N2 viruses and only human B viruses of the Brisbane strain were also diagnosed. in the next flu season 2016/2017, we can expect the “great return” of the Manitoba / Ontario strain of the H5N9 virus known from the 1966 epidemic and the arrival in Europe of the very dangerous H7N9 influenza virus especially for children. The latter is a strain of avian flu that affects the entire upper respiratory tract. The “breeding ground” for the new strains of influenza viruses is, according to researchers at Cambridge University, an area of ​​southern China with large and small domestic fowl. The local, centuries-old tradition of keeping large flocks of hens, even in small peasant farms, causes that viruses multiply perfectly and can make species transfers in the triangle domestic birds and wild – farm animals (usually pigs) – people. Source: wikipedia, CDC, SMI, Stanford