hemorrhagic fever, viral

hemorrhagic fever, viral A set of diseases caused by viruses and characterized by the abrupt onset of high fever and chills, headache, cold and cough, and pain in the muscles, joints, and abdomen, with nausea and vomiting. Abbreviated VHF. One type of hemorrhagic fever is associated with bleeding into the kidney (hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome) and is caused by hantaviruses from the family Bunyaviridae. Examples of viruses known to cause hemorrhagic fever include the arboviruses, the Marburg virus, and the Ebola virus. Viruses associated with most VHFs naturally reside in an animal host or arthropod vector and are transmitted by the animal or insect host to humans. See also arbovirus; Ebola virus; hantavirus.