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A ProMED-mail post
ProMED-mail is a program of the
International Society for Infectious Diseases
Date: Mon 11 Apr 2011
Source: La Estrella, Panama [in Spanish, transl. Mod.TY, edited]
[Health] Authorities in Panama today [11 Apr 2011] noted that the
death of a man in Santiago, Veraguas province, 250 km [155 miles] west
of Panama City, was due to [a] hantavirus [infection]. According to
the Regional Director of the Ministry of Health, Maria del Pilar
Pelaez, the patient died this weekend after being admitted in critical
condition of the Luis Chicho Fabrega Hospital in Santiago.
This official indicated that, due to this situation, an
epidemiological barrier was established in the area where the victim
lived to impede the spread of the [this] hantavirus in the province.
The 30-year-old young man, who the authorities did not identify, was a
driver who was involved in transportation of grain, circumstances
under which he we was infected by this fatal virus.
In this country [Panama], since the appearance of the 1st case in
1999 up to the present, about 150 cases have been registered, of which
30 people have died. Panamanian [health] authorities constantly carry
out fumigation campaigns and educational talks to make people aware of
the dangers of rodents as main transmitters of this fatal disease
[virus].
--
Communicated by:
ProMED-ESP
[One wonders if fumigation was used as the rodent control measure,
rather than rodent poisons in other forms. Although not stated in this
report, in Panama, the hantavirus most likely to be the etiological
agent in this case is Choclo virus. As mentioned in ProMED-mail
archive number 20081027.3389, hantaviruses (and their rodent hosts)
recognized in Panama include Rio Segundo (_Reithrodontomys
mexicanus_), Choclo (_Oligoryzomys fulvescens (costaricensis)_), and
Calabazo (_Zygodontomys brevicauda (cherriei)_). Of these 3 viruses,
only Choclo is a known human pathogen, causing hantavirus pulmonary
syndrome, which can have a high case fatality rate especially when
victims come to hospital late in the course of their disease, as with
the situation with this case.
A photograph of the pygmy rice rat (_Oligoryzomys fulvescens_) can be
accessed at
The HealthMap/ProMED-mail interactive map of Panama showing the
location of Veraguas province can be accessed at
[see also:
2010
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Hantavirus update 2010 - Americas (28): Panama, susp. 20100707.2259
Hantavirus update 2010 - Americas (22): Panama, Brazil
20100502.1430
Hantavirus update 2010 - Americas (11): Panama (HE, CC, PN)
20100305.0732
Hantavirus update 2010 - Americas (09): Panama (LS) 20100226.0638
Hantavirus update 2010 - Americas (08): Panama (HE) 20100216.0547]
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