A group of viruses, so-called because under the electron microscope they have a sand-sprinkled (Latin, arenosus) appearance. Among the diseases in humans for which they are responsible are LASSA FEVER in West Africa, Argentinian haemorrhagic fever (mortality rate 3–15 per cent), a similar disease in Bolivia (mortality rate 18 per cent), and lymphocytic choriomeningitis, in which deaths are uncommon.
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