Hemorrhagic fever, epidemic


A number of diseases, also known as hemorrhagic fever, characterized by an abrupt onset of high fever and chills, headache, cold and cough, and pain in the muscles, joints and abdomen with nausea and vomiting followed by bleeding into the kidney and elsewhere. Known also as hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome.

Many arboviruses (including those in the families Togaviridae, Flaviviridae, Filoviridae, and Bunyaviridae) and the Hantaviruses, spread by rodents or biting insects, can cause epidemic hemorrhagic fever. The Ebola virus is a notorious cause of epidemic hemorrhagic fever.

Bioterrorism — There has been concern about the hemorrhagic fever as a possible weapon for bioterrorism. However, the General Accounting Office, the investigative arm of the US Congress, considers hemorrhagic fever to be an “unlikely” biologic threat for terrorism, because these viruses are very difficult to obtain and process, unsafe to handle, and relatively unstable.

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  • Hemorrhoid

    A dilated (enlarged) vein in the walls of the anus and sometimes around the rectum, usually caused by untreated constipation but occasionally associated with chronic diarrhea. The symptoms start with bleeding after defecation. If untreated, hemorrhoids can worsen, protruding from the anus. In their worst stage, they must be returned to the anal cavity manually. […]

  • Hemorrhoidectomy

    Surgical removal of hemorrhoids (enlarged and dilated veins in and around the anus). Hemorrhoidectomy is usually reserved for severe hemorrhoids if more conservative treatment measures fail to alleviate the symptoms (burning, itching, swelling, protrusion, bleeding, and pain). Hemorrhoidectomy may be done with a standard scalpel or with an ultrasonic scalpel to cut away hemorrhoids (a […]

  • Hemorrhoids

    Dilated (enlarged) veins in the walls of the anus and sometimes around the rectum, usually caused by untreated constipation but occasionally associated with chronic diarrhea. Symptoms start with bleeding after defecation. If untreated, hemorrhoids can worsen, protruding from the anus. Treatment involves changing the diet to prevent constipation and avoid further irritation, the use of […]

  • Hemostasis

    The stoppage of bleeding or hemorrhage. Also, the stoppage of blood flow through a blood vessel or organ of the body. Hemostasis is the arrest of bleeding, whether it be by normal vasoconstriction (the vessel walls closing temporarily), by an abnormal obstruction (such as a plaque) or by coagulation or surgical means (such as ligation). […]

  • Hendra virus

    A virus, formerly called equine morbillivirus, that can cause illness in horses and humans. First identified in 1994 in Australia where the virus caused the death of two patients, one of pneumonia and the other of encephalitis that developed a year after the patient’s initial exposure. Hendra virus is widely distributed in fruit bats (Megachiroptera) […]


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