ABSTRACT
The Lymphocytic ChorioMeningitis Virus (LCMV) of mice was the rst Arenavirus species isolated in the early 1930s during an epidemic of Saint Louis encephalitis in the United States [1]. A second Arenavirus (Tacaribe virus, TCRV) was reported in 1956. Junín virus (JUNV) was recognized in 1958 in Argentina. Machupo virus (MACV) was isolated in 1963, in the remote savannas of the Beni province of Bolivia, and Guanarito virus (GTOV) was isolated in 1983 from patients of the Guanarito municipality of Portuguesa State in Venezuela. In 1990, a new arenavirus, called Sabia (SABV), was isolated in Brazil from a fatal case of hemorrhagic fever in Sao Paulo, initially thought to be a case of yellow fever. Chapare virus (CHAPV) emerged recently in December 2003 and reemerged in January 2004 near Cochabamba, the original setting of MACV emergence, in Bolivia, where several cases of hemorrhagic fever occurred [2].
