Treatment of a laboratory-acquired sabiá virus infection

Arenaviruses are a group of RNA viruses several of which have the potential to cause a deadly syndrome of hemorrhagic fever. In humans these viruses are usually transmitted by exposure to infected rodent excreta; occasional laboratory or nosocomial infections have been reported.¹ Sabiá virus is an arenavirus that was first isolated in São Paulo, Brazil, in 1990 from an agricultural engineer who presented with a hemorrhagic fever syndrome and ultimately died. Necrosis of the liver was found at autopsy. The virus was subsequently characterized as a new member of the Tacaribe complex of the family Arenaviridae.² A laboratory technician in.