2024-01-12 10:01:00
In Chile, the media reported a press release from the ministerial secretary for health of the O’Higgins area which confirmed the first death of the year from hantavirus infection. The victim is a 47-year-old man from the community of Santa Cruz who was infected at work during the construction of a house.
The health authority called on area residents to take precautions to avoid further hantavirus infections. Citizens are reminded that during recreational activities, such as capping or hiking, they must be very careful and not travel off the trails. If they have to go to a shed or a house that has not been used for a long time, they should open the doors and windows using a mask, let the air in for at least half an hour and then clean the surfaces. When it comes to work, it is important to use personal protection.
There is no information on the environmental conditions where the child was infected. It is likely that the virus responsible is virus Andes which is endemic in this vast Andean region of Chile and whose reservoir is the long-tailed pygmy rice rat (Oligoryzomys longicaudatus).
Reminders on New World Hantavirus :
The hantavirus pulmonary syndrome is a serious lung disease caused by hantavirusviruses belonging to the family of Bunyaviridae.
Symptoms usually occur 2-4 weeks following exposure to the virus. The first symptoms are fatigue, fever, muscle pain, headache. Then 1 to 5 days following the onset of symptoms, hantavirus pulmonary syndrome occurs, which combines cough and difficulty breathing.
There is no specific treatment or vaccine.
The reservoir animal is a rodent whose species varies depending on the region of the world. Humans are an accidental host of these viruses which can be transmitted by inhalation of aerosols contaminated with feces or urine of infected rodents or by direct contact with living or dead infected rodents or with feces or urine of these rodents.
Recommendations for hikers:
- Use designated sites for camping or day detention.
- Do not sleep in contact with grass.
- Travel on designated trails.
- Maintain good hand and food hygiene.
- Consume drinking water and do not collect wild fruits in areas where the presence of rodents is evident.
Source: El Rancagüino
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