AMERICA/BOLIVIA - A person in central Bolivia has died of Hanta virus. A few particles of this virus are sufficient to infect thousands of people

Friday, 22 April 2005

Rome (Fides Service) - A patient being treated for Hanta virus at the state hospital in Cochabamba died last week and another patient is in a serious condition.
The patients come from different villages but the same tropical region of Eterazama, 200 km north of Cochabamba one of Bolivia’s main coca producing areas.
Hanta virus, a distant cousin of the ebola virus, has been recognised as a cause of disease in countries such as China for many years. Its symptoms are similar to those of influenza: fever, muscle pain, coughing, and mater internal bleeding and breathing difficulties as the lungs fill with fluid Hanta virus is carried by rodents, particularly deer mice, and is present in their urine and feces. The Hanta virus does not cause disease in the carrier animal but it does in man. Humans are thought to become infected when they are exposed to contaminated dust from the nests or droppings of mice. The disease is not, however, passed between humans. Contaminated dust is often encountered when cleaning long-vacated dwellings, sheds, or other enclosed areas. A 1993 outbreak of fatal respiratory illness on an Indian Reservation in the Four Corners area (the border of Utah, Colorado, New Mexico, and Arizona) led epidemiologists to the discovery of Hanta virus as the causative agent. There is no specific treatment. (AP) (22/4/2005 Agenzia Fides; Righe:20 Parole:217)


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