The hemorrhagic fevers of Southern Africa with special reference to studies in the South African Institute for Medical Research

In this review of studies on the hemorrhagic fevers of Southern Africa carried out in the South African Institute for Medical Research, attention has been called to occurrence of meningococcal septicemia in recruits to the mining industry and South African Army, to cases of staphylococcal and streptococcal septicemia with hemorrhagic manifestations, and to the occurrence of plague which, in its septicemic form, may cause a hemorrhagic state. "Onyalai," a bleeding disease in tropical Africa, often fatal, was related to profound thrombocytopenia possibly following administration of toxic witch doctor medicine. Spirochetal diseases, and rickettsial diseases in their severe forms, are often manifested with hemorrhagic complications. Of enterovirus infections, Coxsackie B viruses occasionally caused severe hepatitis associated with bleeding, especially in newborn babies. Cases of hemorrhagic fever presenting in February-March, 1975 are described. The first outbreak was due to Marburg virus disease and the second, which included seven fatal cases, was caused by Rift Valley fever virus. In recent cases of hemorrhagic fever a variety of infective organisms have been incriminated including bacterial infections, rickettsial diseases, and virus diseases, including Herpesvirus hominis; in one patient, the hemorrhagic state was related to rubella. A boy who died in a hemorrhagic state was found to have Congo fever; another patient who died of severe bleeding from the lungs was infected with Leptospira canicola, and two patients who developed a hemorrhagic state after a safari trip in Northern Botswana were infected with Trypanosoma rhodesiense. An illness manifested by high fever and melena developed in a young man after a visit to Zimbabwe; the patient was found to have both malaria and Marburg virus disease.