BOLIVIA-HANTAVIRUS OUTBREAK KILLS SOLDIERS-OTHERS HOSPITALIZED

DE FAAKTO INTELLIGENCE RESEARCH OBSERVATORY

OUTBREAK INTELLIGENCE

SITUATION-HANTAVIRUS OUTBREAK-SANANDITA, BOLIVIA

BACKGROUND-90 BOLIVIAN SOLDIERS QUARANTINED-54 HOSPITALIZED-2 DEATHS-1 SOLDIER IN INTENSIVE CARE

Departmental Health Services, Santa Cruz SEDES is reporting,

Key Points

  • Due to a hantavirus outbreak
  • 90 soldiers from the Santa Cruz Battalion have been placed under quarantine
  • 54 are hospitalized in the Santa Cruz city Pampa de la Isla Hospital
  • 2 deaths
  • 1 soldier is in intensive care in the Incor Hospital in Santa Cruz
  • Evacuation of 166 soldiers from the Bolivian Condors School (ESCONBOL) in Sanandita
  • The outbreak” of the virus is confirmed in this zone where the disease was never [before] registered
  • In the camp, an epidemiological action was carried out that consists of a cleanup, fumigation, and the elimination of the long-tail mice

 

What is Hantavirus?

  • Hantavirus is acquired by inhalation of feces and urine of the vector
  • Patients that present with symptoms including fever, headache, gastrointestinal effects, respiratory difficulty, and hypotension
  • The disease is contracted in rural areas such as forests, fields, among others, where rodents that carry the virus can be encountered
  • In Chile and Argentina, rare cases of person-to-person transmission have occurred among close contacts of a person who was ill with a type of hantavirus called Andes virus
  • Symptoms of HPS typically occur from two to four weeks after initial exposure, though symptoms may appear as early as one week to as late as eight weeks following exposure
    The case fatality rate can reach 50%

 

About Hantavirus Pulmonary Syndrome

  • (HPS) is a severe, sometimes fatal, respiratory disease in humans caused by infection with hantaviruses.
    Early symptoms: fever, headaches, muscle aches, stomach problems, dizziness, chills, fatigue, fever and muscle aches, especially in the large muscle groups—thighs, hips, back, and sometimes shoulders
    There may also be headaches, dizziness, chills, and abdominal problems, such as nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, and abdominal pain. About half of all HPS patients experience these symptoms (CDC)

 

Late Symptoms

  • Lungs fill with fluid, shortness of breath with the sensation of, as one survivor put it, a “…tight band around my chest and a pillow over my face” as the lungs fill with fluid (CDC)

 

Is the Disease Fatal?

  • Yes. HPS can be fatal. It has a mortality rate of 38% (CDC)

 

Pagina Siete  https://www.paginasiete.bo/sociedad/2019/4/22/mueren-militares-por-brote-de-hantavirus-evacuan-otros-166-215843.html#!

CDC https://www.cdc.gov/hantavirus/index.html