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In the group of emerging pathogens, there is one virus which has not received the widespread attention which has been given to others in the group. Ebola-Zaire, Sin Nombre virus, and GS virus are widely known to the public, having received extensive publicity after outbreaks here and abroad. HVV (Human Vampire Virus), however, remains almost unknown, even though it is now known to have existed in certain isolated areas of the globe for several centuries.
The early work of Stoker provides interesting, if less than scientifically rigorous, documentation of what is considered by some researchers to be the index case. Hampered by the widespread superstitions which obscured the facts of the case to most observers of that time and by the crude research tools which were all that were available then, Stoker's conclusions as to the etiology of the disease were inaccurate. The details of the case, though, preserved in his monographs deposited with The Lancet, provided a starting point for later researchers.
Using the techniques of molecular biology, Dr. Natalie Lambert has succeeded in defining many of the characteristics of this virus. With the assistance of an unnamed colleague infected with HVV, whom she refers to in her notes as "N.K.," Dr. Lambert was able, after several years of exhaustive experimentation, to determine the unusual nutritional requirements of this virus and to culture it successfully in a cell culture line derived from human erythroblasts. In vitro techniques could then be utilized to examine the characteristics of the virus.
A single-stranded RNA virus, this organism has tentatively been classified as an apocryphavirus, distantly related to HLyV (Human Lycanthropic Virus). Nucleotide sequencing of HVV's 3400 base pairs has not yet been completed, but using the data which has been obtained thus far, Dr. Lambert has been able to theorize that HVV uses heretofore unknown mechanisms in the process of infection and replication. In an intriguing speculation, she states that the virus may actually alter the expression of the genetic information carried in human DNA, causing what has been called by some the "somatic mutation" of the disease, which includes gastrointestinal changes, a marked increase in the efficiency of the energy-producing metobolism, photophobia, and the characteristic adaptive dental changes.
Infection is usually caused by sexual contact with an infected person or by exposure to contaminated blood or body fluids. Abrasions or other breaks in skin exposed to the virus increase the likelihood of infection, as does exposure of intact gactric mucosa to the infectious agent. This virus appears to have a resistance to the acidity of gastric secretions far surpassing that found in any other known virus. Casual contact with an HVV carrier is not known to be associated with any increased risk of infection, but a unique characteristic of the carrier state seems to be an increase in sexual attractiveness, and this in and of itself may increase the risk of transmission, by increasing the likelihood that contact will not remain casual.
There is no known treatment for this virus, and while the carrier state is known to not always lead to a decrease in life expectancy, many of those infected find themselves unable to cope with the changes in lifestyle forced by the somatic changes induced by the virus. Efforts are continuing in several research centers to find an effective treatment, though a cure is thought to be many decades away.