Friday, January 20, 2023 | 10:15 a.m.
Five cases of pneumonia in health workers in Tucumán led to a call for attention among the health authorities seeking to determine the causative agent of the respiratory symptoms, five months after an outbreak of bilateral pneumonia caused the death of six people in the province.
Personnel in charge of the Tucumán Epidemiology Directorate began to investigate the five cases of pneumonia that affect workers at a private clinic. Of those affected there are three who are hospitalized, one of them in serious condition, the Tucuman Ministry of Health reported this Thursday.
“Yesterday those patients who were in a state to do so, as well as their family groups, were questioned to determine the date of onset of symptoms and clinically categorize the disease, its evolution and contacts of people and environments in common,” Ferre Contreras recounted and added that “information continues to be collected permanently and working in an articulated manner with the private institution that brings together infected workers.”
Meanwhile, he said that on Wednesday samples were taken for different studies and that they are awaiting the results “to reach any conclusion.”
Regarding the precautions that must be taken, Ferre Contreras said that “since there is no etiological agent, the route of transmission has not yet been identified, which means that measures cannot be established to date.”
However, he clarified that “to the extent that we can identify this etiological agent, all the corresponding actions will be taken.”
Despite the uncertainty generated by the appearance of new cases of pneumonia, Ferre Contreras sought to transmit “tranquility” to the population that these episodes can be “quickly identified and studied because we have an Epidemiological Surveillance System in the province that is constantly alert , who works very well and has plenty of experience in this type of situation”.
Five months ago, in August 2022, at the Luz Médica private clinic in the city of San Miguel de Tucumán, there was an outbreak of bilateral pneumonia that affected 22 people, six of whom died.
The studies carried out on the samples that were sent to the National Administration of Laboratories and Institutes of Health ‘Dr.Carlos Malbrán’ determined that the infections were caused by a bacterium called Legionella.
As explained on that occasion by the Minister of Health of the Nation, Carla Vizzotti, “the transmission of this bacterium occurs by inhalation through water or air conditioning. And after the information on the cases, and the pertinent investigations, everything seems to point to a single place: the Luz Médica Clinic in San Miguel de Tucumán. Therefore, it is believed that this bacterium could have spread through the health center facilities, especially the plumbing and air conditioning.
After the six deaths that occurred between August and early September, in November -also in Tucumán- Santino Godoy Blanco, a 4-year-old boy who had participated in advertising a vaccination campaign run by the Ministry of Health, died of bilateral pneumonia. of the Nation
Miguel Ferre Contreras, medical executive secretary of the Provincial Health System (SIPROSA), specified that the person who is in serious condition is on a respirator and that there are two other outpatients.
“After a series of studies that have been carried out on them, they have not indicated an etiological isolation, that is, the causes of the pneumonia that they are undergoing have not yet been determined,” he explained. “As in all cases in which we see groups of people who present the same pathology and certain characteristics in common, rigorous epidemiological studies are carried out to be able to take sanitary measures,” added the specialist.
