:strip_icc()/s.glbimg.com/jo/g1/f/original/2014/12/18/rato.jpg)
[ad_1]
Hantaviruses are a serious viral disease transmitted by rodents. It is common for hantavirus cases to be reported annually in South American countries, particularly in Brazil. But a deadly epidemic in southern Argentina has attracted attention.
Ten people died last December last Saturday (12). One of them was a 29-year-old Chilean who contracted hantavirus in Argentina, local media reported.
According to the latest report of the Health Ministry of Chubut, a region of southern Argentina, 28 people have been infected so far.
What worries about this epidemic is not just the high number of deaths, but the fact that all infected people are suspected of having contracted the disease from other people.
The most common is that contagion occurs directly through the inhalation of urine particles, stool and saliva from wild rodents – and not through contact with other infected humans. Therefore, cases of the disease are usually isolated. Unlike humans, rodents, such as rats and rats, can carry hantavirus throughout their lives without becoming ill.
In Brazil, between 2007 and 2015, according to a survey conducted by researchers in epidemiology, Lidsy Ximenes Fonseca, Stefan Vilages of Oliveira and Elisabeth Carmen Duarte, "13,181 cases of hantavirosis have been reported, of which 8% were confirmed and 410 died ". .
What is surprising in the case of Argentina is the high concentration of cases of the disease in the same locality and with a large number of deaths over a short period. An epidemic is affecting the small town of Epuyen in Argentine Patagonia – Photo: Google Maps "src =" data: image / jpeg
The deceased knew each other and many of them belonged to the same family.
All cases of death and contamination occurred in the town of Epuyen, in the province of Chubut, in Argentine Patagonia. The health authorities of the city were able to locate the origin of the epidemic: it was a birthday party on November 24th.
It is thought that a man present at the party had contracted the disease before, while he was cleaning a shed in disuse. Locally, there may have been saliva, urine, or rat droppings. The most common cases of contagion occur when inhaling dust produced by dry urine from rodents, in enclosed areas.
Sunlight and disinfectants kill the virus. It is therefore rare that many people are infected at the same time.
But hantavirus can also be transmitted between humans during the first days of infection. This is rare, but health officials say that's what happened in Epuyen.
Hantaviruses cause flu-like symptoms: fever, muscle aches, chills, headache, nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain and diarrhea.
But, after a few days, the picture deteriorates and breathing difficulties appear, which lead to the so-called cardiopulmonary syndrome hantavirus.
In this case, sufferers have fever, breathing difficulties, rapid breathing, rapid heartbeat, dry cough, low blood pressure and non-cardiogenic pulmonary edema. In this case, the patient may progress to acute respiratory failure and circulatory shock.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the mortality rate for this disease is 38% and there is no "specific treatment" for it.
The Malbrá Institute of Buenos Aires, the laboratory where are badyzed possible cases of hantavirus infection, confirmed to the BBC News Mundo (Spanish BBC service) that the epidemic had occurred at the birthday party of a young woman who was 14 years old.
"We badyzed 400 samples, including those of all those present at the anniversary," said the laboratory linked to the Ministry of Health of Argentina.
According to local media reports, some fifty people who attended the party stay in quarantine at home. The first fatal victim of the epidemic was the daughter of her birthday herself. The 14-year-old girl died on December 3, ten days after the party.
The man who caused the contagion and his wife, also ill, recovered. Six people at the party died between December and the first days of 2019.
Last week, the Chubut government announced that two women and a 16-year-old teenager were on the victims list. The three men were hospitalized in Esquel, near where the party took place.
Jose Antonio Vergara, a doctor at the Epidemiology Unit of Los Lagos Health Department in Chile, announced Saturday the death of another 29-year-old woman.
According to the Brazilian Ministry of Health, there is no specific treatment for hantavirus infections and "therapeutic measures are fundamentally useful".
Although, for the moment, all cases of contagion in Epuyen – including that of the deceased Chilean woman – have occurred, the authorities are on the alert for a possible spread of the virus.
In addition to the Chilean case, two people were also infected in the vicinity of Chubut. Local authorities have suspended three traditional festivals that would take place in the region.
They also plan to establish a "mandatory isolation" of about 60 neighbors of infected persons. In addition, the Malbrán Institute is badessing the possibility that the virus has mutated and become more dangerous.
The most disturbing scenario at the moment is that the hantavirus can be transmitted by saliva vapor, which would facilitate the spread of the disease. However, Dr. Jorge Elias, director of the North West Health Sector of the Chubut Ministry of Health, called for the situation to be put in perspective and that there was do not panic.
"In Epuyen, there are about 2,500 people, of whom 24 have been tested positive, we should not alarm the community."
Source link
