The arenaviridae are a family of viruses whose members are generally associated with rodent transmitted diseases in humans each virus usually is associated with a particular rodent host species in which it is maintained arenavirus infections are relatively common in humans in some areas of the world and can cause severe illnesses. The family arenaviridae is composed of two serogroups old world arenaviruses including lassa fever virus and lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus and the new world viruses of pichinde virus and junin virus all of these viruses share common clinical manifestations mccormick and fisher hoch 2002. Arenavirus any virus belonging to the family arenaviridae the name of the family is derived from the latin arenosus meaning sandy which describes the grainy appearance of arenavirus ribosomes protein synthesizing particles