ABSTRACT
Four other related arenaviruses have been found to cause hemorrhagic fever, although they are endemic in South America rather than Africa. All South American arenaviruses have been identi ed during the second half of the 20th century. However, there is a hypothesis that arenaviruses are quite ancient and have existed in nature for years as silent zoonotic foci. It is believed that some outbreaks that caused catastrophic demographic collapse in Mexican populations during the 16th century may have been due to arenaviruses [8].
