Ana Natalia Ayala died in the last hours after being infected with hantavirus. The patient was 45 years old and was a teacher in a kindergarten in the city of Bariloche. Staff from the Regional Environmental Health Unit investigate to determine how the contagion occurred and where. It is the first case of the year in the country.
Laboratory studies such as IgM and PCR for hantavirus, which were carried out on the blood samples taken from the patient, were positive and confirmed the infection, so it was decided to isolate Ayala’s close contacts for 40 days as preventive measure, because the symptoms can manifest in people during that period. The result of the PCR study was sent to the Malbrán Institute to identify if it is the same variant that was detected some time ago in the Andean zone or if it is another subtype.
Sources from the sanatorium reported that the patient was admitted “very badly” on Wednesday and was immediately admitted to the Intensive Care Unit. She was a previously healthy young patient, who was admitted to the sanatorium with a picture of respiratory failure. For this reason, she immediately required respiratory mechanical assistance but evolved unfavorably.
The doctors who treated the teacher interviewed a direct relative of the woman who assured that Ayala had not collected firewood or been in sheds. Therefore, it is investigated where and when the contagion occurred. Although the hantavirus has a mortality rate that exceeds 50 percent, there are many cases that evolve favorably.
CASES THAT CAUSED ALARM
In December 2021, the death of a 28-year-old man infected with hantavirus in the town of Etcheverry set off all the alarms.
The hantavirus, according to the experts, had at that time become an endemic disease in our region since since 1998 when the first case was detected, it had already claimed more than fifteen lives, only in La Plata.
For this reason, the State was called upon to provide defense measures against the advance of this threat, such as weeding peri-urban areas and avoiding the collection of garbage from which rodents can feed.
VACCINES
As reported by CONICET, studies are currently being carried out on vaccines and viral therapies against hantaviruses from the American continent, but the results are still incipient.
Therefore, the basic element to avoid the disease is the prevention of human exposure to infected rodents and to take the appropriate sanitary measures in each case.
symptoms of the disease
WHAT IS THE HANTAVIRUS?
It is an infection caused by a group of viruses transmitted by wild and domestic rodents, the consequences of which can be fatal if not diagnosed early.
HOW IS IT TRANSMITTED?
Through secretions (urine, fecal matter, saliva) of rodents, when inhaled by humans, when dust is formed in a closed environment without ventilation or hygiene, and through contact and rodent bites.
WHAT ARE THE SYMPTOMS?
Initially muscle aches and fever. The primary symptom is shortness of breath, caused by fluid buildup in the lungs. It manifests with diarrhea and abdominal pain, headache and cough, nausea or vomiting.
