Guanarito is a virus found in the tropical jungles of Venezuela. It is a common cause of hemorrhagic fever. The virus reproduces in jungle rodents, which shed it in their saliva and feces. Humans become infected when they come into contact with these secretions. The virus grows in humans' lymph nodes and then spreads to the rest of the body via the blood stream. The incubation period is about one to two weeks.
Initial Symptoms
Initial symptoms of Guanarito virus infection are nonspecific and may include fever, headache, body and muscle aches and abdominal pain. Other early symptoms of the disease include vomiting, diarrhea and sore throat. This can lead to decreased intake of fluid and dehydration. Severe dehydration can result in dry lips, rapid heart rate, decreased urine output and blood pressure instability.
Hematologic symptoms
The Guanarito virus causes hemorrhagic fever, a condition in which the body cannot control bleeding. The virus causes a dangerous decrease in platelets, the main blood cells that help with clotting. It does this by both decreasing the number of platelets produced by the body and by increasing their destruction. Hemorrhagic fever also results in damage to blood vessels and failure of platelets to function adequately.
As a result, patients exhibit hematologic symptoms (symptoms related to the blood cells). Affected individuals are left with an increased possibility of spontaneous and uncontrolled bleeding. They can bleed from any body orifice: eyes, mouth, nose, ears and anus. They can bleed easily, and even seemingly insignificant trauma can provoke serious hemorrhage. More serious bleeding can occur inside the head, and into the abdomen.
Other symptoms
Some patients can develop swelling of the extremities and trunk. This is the result of the inability of the kidneys to retain protein in the blood stream. Proteins like albumin prevent fluid from leaving the blood vessels and going into the tissues. So proteinuria, or passage of proteins in the urine, can lead to edema. Guanarito hemorrhagic fever can also cause liver damage, reflected in an increase in the liver enzymes detected in the blood stream. Both the liver and the spleen can be enlarged, as these organs are involved in the clotting process and in the destruction of platelets, respectively. As the patient's condition deteriorates, she can have seizures and other changes in her mental state, and it is important to determine whether these are caused by bleeding inside the brain or from other complications, like severe dehydration.
