Skip Navigation

  Button that takes you back to the home page. Button that takes you to the teacher pages. Button that takes you to the modules and activities page. Button that takes you to the Glossary page. Button that takes you to the References page. Button that takes you to the Problem Based Learning model.Image map of some Rift Valley Fever puzzle pieces.  Please have someone assist you with this.

Button that takes you to the Background Information page.
Button that takes you to the What is the Rift Valley page.
Button that takes you to the What is Known page.
Image that says Causative Agent.
Button that takes you to the Prevention page.
Button that takes you to the Spreading page.
Button that takes you to the Other Viruses page.
Causative Agent
Two of the criteria by virologists to classify viruses into families include the following:
  • Type of nucleic acid (DNA or RNA) in the virus.
  • Size and symmetry of the capsid (protein coat), and whether it is surrounded by an envelope.

RVF virus causes a febrile (fever-producing) illness, which is sometimes complicated by hemorrhage, encephalitis (inflamation of the brain), and blindness. RVF belongs to the genus Phlebovirus, which is one of five genera in the Bunyaviridae family. The prefix "bunya" refers to the place in Africa (Bunyamwera) where the family prototype (Bunyamwera virus) was first isolated. The viruses in this large family inhabit arthropods (insects and related organisms) and vertebrates. Many of the other Bunyaviridae cause fevers and encephalitis. Other well-known members of the family include the Hantavirus and Oropouche virus.

All of the viruses in the Bunyaviridae family have oval or spherical virions (elementary virus particles). The virions are about 100 nanometers in diameter, smaller than a particle of smoke or a bacterium. They contain three different strands of minus-strand RNA. A virus with minus-strand RNA cannot synthesize protein directly from the RNA; it must first copy a complementary positive strand, and the copy is used for protein synthesis. As with all viruses, the nucleic acid is surrounded by a protein coat called a capsid. In some viruses, the nucleocapsid (the virion's nucleic acid and capsid) is surrounded by an envelope. The Bunyaviridae has such as envelope, which contains a relatively high percentage of lipids (20-30%).

[ Background Information ] [ What is the Rift Valley? ] [ What is Known? ]
[ Causative Agent ] [ Prevention ] [ Spreading ] [ Other Viruses ]
[
Glossary] [ References ] [ PBL Model]

[ Home ] [ Teacher Pages ] [ Modules & Activities ]

Button that takes you back to the Rift Valley Fever main page.


HTML code by Chris Kreger
Maintained by ETE Team
Last updated April 28, 2005

Some images © 2004 www.clipart.com

Privacy Statement and Copyright © 1997-2004 by Wheeling Jesuit University/NASA-supported Classroom of the Future. All rights reserved.

Center for Educational Technologies, Circuit Board/Apple graphic logo, and COTF Classroom of the Future logo are registered trademarks of Wheeling Jesuit University.