Hemorrhagic diseases are caused by infection with viruses or bacteria. As the name implies, a hallmark of a hemorrhagic disease is copious bleeding. The onset of a hemorrhagic fever or disease can lead to relatively mild symptoms that clear up within a short time. However, hemorrhagic diseases are most recognized because of the ferocity and lethality of their symptoms as well as the speed at which they render a person extremely ill.

Virtually all the hemorrhagic diseases of microbiological origin that arise with any frequency are caused by viruses. The various viral diseases are also known as viral hemorrhagic fevers. Bacterial infections that lead to hemorrhagic fever are rare. One example is a bacterium known as scrub typhus.

The viruses that cause hemorrhagic diseases are members of four groups. These are the arenaviruses, filoviruses, bunyaviruses, and the flaviviruses. Arenaviruses are the cause...