Morogoro virus is an East African

arenavirus An arenavirus is a bi- or trisegmented ambisense RNA virus that is a member of the family ''Arenaviridae''. These viruses infect rodents and occasionally humans. A class of novel, highly divergent arenaviruses, properly known as reptarenavirus ...

infecting the multimammate mouse (''Mastomys natalensis''). The virus is genetically closely related to

Lassa virus Lassa virus (LASV) is an Arenaviridae, arenavirus that causes Lassa hemorrhagic fever, a type of viral hemorrhagic fever (VHF), in humans and other primates. Lassa virus is an Emerging infectious disease, emerging virus and a select agent, requi ...

, known to cause Lassa fever in humans. Morogoro virus, however, does not seem to infect humans. Transmission of Morogoro virus between mice is assumed to occur via direct and indirect contact. Infected animals pass a latent period of 7 days and subsequently shed the virus for about 30 days, after which they recover and develop lifelong antibodies. Transmission may also be possible from infected mothers to offspring and through sexual contact, as this has been suggested for other arenaviruses.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q28870941 Arenaviridae Animal virology