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Mission Statement
Disease / Virus Information
 
 Arenaviruses
 Crimean-Congo Hemorrhagic Fever
 Ebola Hemorrhagic Fever
 Filoviruses
 Hantavirus Pulmonary Syndrome
 Hemorrhagic Fever with Renal Syndrome
 Hendra Virus Disease
 Kyasanur Forest Disease
 Lassa Fever
 Lymphocytic Choriomeningitis
 Marburg Hemorrhagic Fever
 Nipah Virus Encephalitis
 Omsk Hemorrhagic Fever
 Rift Valley Fever
 Tick-borne Encephalitis
 Viral Hemorrhagic Fevers

Education and Prevention Materials
 Other Resources
 Research Publications
 Specimen Submission Information
 Outbreak Postings
 Glossary
Disease Information
 BSL4 employee at work
 

  Researcher at work in BSL-4 laboratory.

The Special Pathogens Branch works with Biosafety Level 4 (BSL-4) viruses. These viruses are highly pathogenic and require handling in special laboratory facilities designed to contain them.

Our mission focuses mainly on viral hemorrhagic fevers (VHFs), such as Ebola hemorrhagic fever, Lassa fever, hantavirus pulmonary syndrome (HPS), and hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome (HFRS). Our work also includes the study of other emerging viral disease agents that do not cause hemorrhagic fever, but require BSL-4 handling, such as Nipah virus and tick-borne encephalitis virus.

All of the viruses we work with are zoonotic (animal-borne), lipid-enveloped RNA viruses. Some of them are rare, whereas others are quite common and cause frequently debilitating or fatal disease in many thousands of people. Some of the virus types are found in relatively small geographic areas, others are distributed over continents. If you were to draw a map showing where these viruses were found collectively, your map would cover most of the inhabited regions of the globe.

For more general information on VHFs, please refer to our Viral Hemorraghic Fevers Fact Sheet.

Table of Virus Families and Diseases Go to top of page

The following is a table of the diseases/agents that are presently the focus of our work activities. Currently, only some virus family and disease fact sheets are available on-line.

Arenaviridae Bunyaviridae Filoviridae Flaviviridae Paramyxoviridae
Argentine hemorrhagic fever Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever
(CCHF)

Ebola hemorrhagic fever

Kyasanur Forest disease Hendra virus
disease
Bolivian
hemorrhagic fever
Sabia-associated hemorrhagic fever
Venezuelan hemorrhagic fever
Lassa fever Hantavirus pulmonary syndrome (HPS)(links to "All About Hantavirus" website) Marburg hemorrhagic fever Omsk
hemorrhagic fever
Nipah virus encephalitis
Lymphocytic choriomeningitis (LCM) Hemorrhagic
fever with renal syndrome
(HFRS)
  Tick-borne encephalitis  
  Rift Valley fever      
Sections on this page

Table of Viruses and Diseases that SPB works with.

Education Materials
If you are interested in teaching and prevention aids, please see our Education and Prevention Materials page. 
Related Links
 Venezuelan equine encephalitis virus Material Safety Data Sheet
 Integrated Disease Surveillance and Response (links to another CDC Branch site)

 

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This page last reviewed June 2, 2008

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