There are millions of virus strains belonging to different families in the world. While not all of them are harmful, several can cause body impairment, which can range from mild to severe. Hemorrhagic viruses belong to the latter. If a person acquires this virus, he or she becomes susceptible to multiple organ failure and external and internal bleeding.
One of the main issues with hemorrhagic diseases is that the specific virus cannot be diagnosed right away. Often the symptoms mimic those of other diseases. Moreover, the virus cannot be detected until it has already gone into the bloodstream. By then, the signs and symptoms of the illness may already be life threatening.
Worse, except in very rare cases, there's no known cure or vaccine against these types of diseases. The only way for a patient to survive is to receive prompt and adequate care that allows the body to improve its immune system and fight the virus.
Take, for example, the Ebola and Marburg viruses. The latter is often considered a cousin or related to Ebola since they share almost the same symptoms, from fever during the first stage to bleeding in the most serious phase of the illness. The only method to determine the difference is through a blood test.
A group of researchers from Boston University Medical Center, however, has developed a way to specifically identify the virus before the person shows symptoms. This is a very important study and discovery as it allows for a prompt diagnostic and a more accurate method of treatment.
Working alongside the U.S. Army Medical research Institute (USAMRIID), they worked with two viruses: Lassa and Marburg, derived from models that have been infected. They extracted the RNA of these viruses at different phases of infection of the models, and using certain genetic sequencing methods, they saw certain alterations in the gene expression that may be used to determine early-stage infection. During this time, the patient hasn't shown any symptoms yet and is thus not contagious.
