Ultrastructural pathology of human liver in Rift Valley fever

Rift Valley fever (RVF) is a zoonotic disease that primarily affects ruminant animals and can also cause fatal disease in humans. In the current report, we present the ultrastructural changes in the liver of a man aged 60 years who died from RVF in the Aseer Central Hospital, Abha, Saudi Arabia. The main hepatic changes by transmission electron microscopy included the presence of 95-115 nm electron-dense particles consistent with RVF virions, nuclear condensation, vacuolar degeneration, lipid droplet accumulation and mitochondrial damage and dilation. There were also viral inclusion bodies with electron-dense aggregates, dilation of intercellular spaces, damage of sinusoidal microvilli with widening of space of Disse, dilation of bile canaliculi and increasing number of phagolysosomes.