Viral Bio Weapons (lecture)

Question 1

What family of viruses cause Lassa Fever and South American Hemorrhagic Fever?

Answer 1

Arenoviruses

Question 2

What family of viruses cause Congo-Crimean Hemorrhagic and Rift Valley?

Answer 2

Bunyviruses

Question 3

What family of viruses cause Ebola and Marburg?

Answer 3

Filoviruses

Question 4

What family of viruses cause Yellow Fever, Kyasanur Forest Disease, and Omsk hemorrhagic fever?

Answer 4

Flaviviruses

Question 5

Viruses that cause viral hemorrhagic fevers are all ______ (DNA/RNA) and are _______ (Enveloped/Nonenveloped).

Answer 5

RNA

Enveloped (not as hardy)

Question 6

What antiviral Rx has shown some efficacy against Arenaviruses and Bunyviruses?

Answer 6

Ribavirin

Note: that these are the only two families with ambisense RNA

Question 7

African child who was exploring her surroundings was bitten by a bat. She later began to exhibit severe hemmorhagic symptoms and died. What is the morphology of the likely causal organism? Where in a host cell does replication of the virus take place?

Answer 7

This is likely Ebolavirus (bat reservoir).

It is an enveloped (not hardy), negative sense, single stranded RNA (has RNA-dependent RNA polymerase)

Replication is cytoplasmic

Question 8

What is the difference between Ebolavirus and Marburg virus?

Answer 8

The natural reservoir of Ebola is bats.

Marburg reservoir is the African Green monkey

Question 9

East European boy who owns a dog began to show signs of hemmorhagic fever and atypical pneumonia. CBC shows elevation in lymphocytes. What is the genome of the likely causal organism and how was it contracted by the boy?

Answer 9

This is likely Crimean-Congo Hemorrhagic Fever
It is caused by a Bunyvirus, circular ambisense RNA
Transmission is via ticks (from the dog)

Question 10

Woman at 34 weeks gestation recently returned from a trip to Africa, where she visited her poverty-stricken home village. She reports sleeping on the dirt ground most nights in rodent infested shacks. She now presents with a sore throat facial swelling, mucosal bleeding and slight hearing loss. What is the genome of the infective agent? What is the likely outcome of the pregnancy and most likely long-term effects?

Answer 10

• This is likely Lassa Virus due to the rodent exposure (spread via rodent excreta).
• Lassa is an Arenavirus (the dirt floor reminds me of fighting in an arena) - 2 strand ambisense RNA.
• Infection in third trimester usually fatal to fetus, but the baby has 1/3 chance of deafness if it survives. NOTE: It also has a 20% mortality rate for pregnant women.

Question 11

What is unique about the life cycle of Poxvirus?

Answer 11

It is the only DNA virus that replicates in the cytoplasm of infected cells.

Question 12

What is the distribution of lesions in smallpox (compare to chickenpox)?

Answer 12

Small pox is most dense in the extremities. It is also found on the soles and palms.
Chickenpox is denser on the trunk. It is NOT found on the palms and soles.

Question 13

What is the only RNA virus that replicates in the nucleus?

Answer 13

Influenza

Question 14

Person who recently received a series of vaccinations in preparation for deployment to an area with suspected CBNE capability. He show significant purulent exudate oozing from his eye and a 1 cm well-circumscribed circular herpetic lesion on his left deltoid region. What is the likely cause of the lesions?

Answer 14

This is likely auto-inoculation of a smallpox lesion to the eye. It probably happened from resting his head on his shoulder while sleeping - smallpox vaccine is typically given on the left shoulder.

Question 15

What is the treatment for eczema vaccinated (disseminated severe reaction to smallpox vaccine)?

Answer 15

Human Vaccinia Immune Globulin (hVIG)