Lujo virus: Current concepts

Abstract

Lujo virus (LUJV), a novel Old World arenavirus, was found to cause a fulminant viral hemorrhagic fever syndrome in an outbreak in 2008. The primary patient was from Lusaka, Zambia, and subsequent nosocomial transmission occurred to four other patients in Johannesburg, South Africa, hence the name Lujo virus. Like all arenaviruses, LUJV is a segmented, single-stranded, negative-sense RNA virus. Genomic sequencing confirmed that LUJV G1 glycoprotein was novel, diverse and genetically equidistant from other arenaviruses. A clinical syndrome resembling severe, fulminant Lassa virus infection was responsible for a high case fatality rate of 80% (4/5 cases). This review describes briefly the clinical course of the disease, laboratory findings and diagnosis. Recent studies address the current aspects of epidemiology, pathophysiology and treatments, specifically comparing with Lassa virus.