It is the scientific name for a virus in the Arenavirus family, discovered in Bolivia and which produces a hemorrhagic fever. It can be transmitted from person to person and can be fatal. Chapare is the name of a municipality, an area and a province in Bolivia, as well as a river in the same region. They belong to the Department of Cochabamba. Mammarenavirus means Mammalian Arenavirus ( or primates), because of its biological genus which is Mammalia .
It is the name of the virus that causes the 'Chapare hemorrhagic fever', a disease that appeared in Bolivia in 2003, with a lethality of 60% and without vaccine so far. Etymology is first an eponymous of the province of Chapare (Bolivia) where it was identified, and Mammarenavirus is an acronym for Arenavirus mammal, a name formed by sand and virus, as it is a sandy-looking virion that is transmitted between mammals.
