Hemorrhagic Fevers Overview

Hemorrhagic fevers are serious viral infections that cause fever and bleeding from your mouth, nose, or organs inside your body. These infections can be deadly.

• You can get these infections by touching infected people, animals, or insects, or their body fluids, such as their saliva, urine, droppings, or blood

• Doctors can tell if you have hemorrhagic fever by doing blood tests

• No medicine can cure hemorrhagic fevers, so doctors treat your symptoms, give you fluids, and make sure your organs are working well

• Sometimes, they'll try antiviral medicines

Hemorrhagic fevers are caused by viruses. Hemorrhagic fevers are a group of viral infections including:

• Ebola, in parts of Africa

• Lassa fever, in West Africa

• Dengue fever, in Asia and South America

• Hantavirus, in the United States, Central and South America, Europe, and Korea

• Yellow fever, in tropical areas of Africa, South America, and southern Panama

These viruses make the blood vessels in your body leak, causing:

• Bleeding under your skin and from your mouth, nose, or organs

In addition to bleeding, other symptoms include:

• Fever

• Muscle and body aches

• Fatigue and weakness

• When severe, coma, shock, and failure of the lungs, liver and kidneys