Taxonomy: Order Mononegavirales; Family Arenaviridae; Subfamily New World Arenavirus

Morphology: enveloped, helical nucleocapsid; pleiomorphic in shape; "sandy" appearance

Genome: ssRNA; multipartite (an L and S strand); linear and circular; negative, with ambisense capability; replication in cytoplasm, requires intact nucleus for reasons that remain unclear

• Very powerful zoonosis. 20% mortality rate in humans.

Attack:

• Likes to attack various cell types, especially macrophages ad fibroblasts. Replicates in the cytoplasm and matures by budding from plasma membrane. Steals glycoproteins and ribosomes from host cell.

• Causes hemorrhagic fever and kills one in five people it encounters.

• 1-2 week incubation period, but sudden onset of disseminated intravascular coagulation causes rapid death.

Vaccines:

• None available.

• Rodent control of calomys callosus. Isolation and barrier nursing prevents nosocomial spread.

• Must maintain electrolyte fluid and osmotic balance to manage hypotension and shock near end-stage of disease. Prophylaxis with Ribavirin orally or IV.

• Role a die. If opponent gets a "five" s/he dies. If not, they survive the disease, but skip a turn to recover from massive bleeding.