The difference between Dengue fever and Ebola-hemorrhagic Fever

Ebola vs. Hemorrhagic Fever: What's the Difference?

By Elizabeth Palermo, Staff Writer   |   October 09, 2014 10:11am ET

The Ebola virus Credit: CDC/ Frederick Murphy View full size image

Ebola's most notorious symptom may be hemorrhagic fever, but the virus is actually one of many that can cause the hallmark bleeding from the nose, mouth, ears and other places.
Collectively known as viral hemorrhagic fevers (VHFs), these illnesses typically cause fever as well as extreme dysfunction in the body's network of blood vessels, which can result in profuse bleeding.
The hemorrhaging associated with VHFs can arise from a number of different factors depending on which virus a person is infected with, said Alan Schmaljohn, a virologist and professor of microbiology and immunology at the University of Maryland School of Medicine.

In the case of people with Ebola, hemorrhaging occurs when the virus infects the liver, affecting the body's ability to make blood-clotting proteins and causing blood vessels to leak. But other viruses may cause hemorrhaging by depleting the body's supply of platelets, which stop bleeding, Schmaljohn told Live Science. [5 Things You Should Know About Ebola]
Ebola is one of several members of the Filovirus family of viruses that can cause hemorrhagic fevers, and there are at least three other families of viruses that also cause hemorrhagic fevers, including Bunyaviruses, Flavaviruses and Arenaviruses, Schmaljohn said.
For the most part, there are no treatments available for people with any type of viral hemorrhagic fever, although one acute viral disease, yellow fever, can be prevented with a vaccine.