Alkhurma virus

Taxobox
virus_group = iv
familia = "Flaviviridae"
genus = "Flavivirus"

Alkhurma virus is a member of the Flaviviridae virus family (class IV) so has a positive sense single stranded RNA genome and the virus will replicate in the cytoplasm of the infected host cell. It has been shown to be a variant of the Kyasanur Forest disease virus (KFDV) as it shares 89% nucleotide sequence homology. The virus genome is able to mimic mRNA in host cells and so can use some of the host cells enzymes and machinery for its own gene expression, the virus encodes a single polyprotein which is cleaved to form mature proteins.

This virus was first isolated in Saudi Arabia in the 1990s and since then there have been 24 reported cases, mainly occurring among butchers, with the case fatality-rate above 30%. It was first discovered in the blood of 6 male butchers, aged 24-39 years, in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia in November and December 1995. It causes a type of tick-borne hemorrhagic fever with the symptoms including fever, headache, joint pain, muscle pain, vomiting and thrombocytopenia which lead to hemorrhagic fever and encephalitis which can result in death. [cite journal |author=Zaki AM |title=Isolation of a flavivirus related to the tick-borne encephalitis complex from human cases in Saudi Arabia |journal=Trans. R. Soc. Trop. Med. Hyg. |volume=91 |issue=2 |pages=179–81 |year=1997 |pmid=9196762 |doi= |url=] Camels and sheep are the natural hosts of this virus but it is not yet known if other mammals are also involved in its life cycle. There appears to be more than one possible route of transmission seen in people who have become infected with this virus. These are a bite by an infected tick, ingestion of unpasteurised camel milk or entry via a skin wound.

Sources

*cite journal |author=Charrel RN, Zaki AM, Fakeeh M, "et al" |title=Low diversity of Alkhurma hemorrhagic fever virus, Saudi Arabia, 1994-1999 |journal=Emerging Infect. Dis. |volume=11 |issue=5 |pages=683–8 |year=2005 |pmid=15890119 |doi= |url=http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/EID/vol11no05/04-1298.htm
*cite journal |author=Charrel RN, Zaki AM, Attoui H, "et al" |title=Complete coding sequence of the Alkhurma virus, a tick-borne flavivirus causing severe hemorrhagic fever in humans in Saudi Arabia |journal=Biochem. Biophys. Res. Commun. |volume=287 |issue=2 |pages=455–61 |year=2001 |pmid=11554750 |doi=10.1006/bbrc.2001.5610 |url=http://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0006-291X(01)95610-4

References