Three people died and six others contracted a mysterious pneumonia in Argentina this week, the country’s authorities announced today (Friday). All the cases were concentrated around a private clinic in the northwest of the province of Tucumán in central Argentina.
A new variant or a renewed outbreak? Four “high fever” cases were diagnosed at the Chinese border
“Over a million deaths a year from the corona virus”: the World Health Organization in an alarming message
The authorities said that the presence of the corona virus in the bodies of those who were infected, as well as different types of the flu virus, was ruled out. In the meantime, the authorities in the country continue to carry out tests of the water supply and air conditioners in the area to locate the source of the virus. Those who were close to the infected are under epidemiological surveillance, but so far none of them have developed symptoms. The first six patients began showing symptoms between August 18 and 23.
Among the three dead were two medics and a 70-year-old woman who was hospitalized in a clinic in northern Argentina. The authorities in the country suspect that the woman who died is “patient zero”, meaning the first patient from whom the virus spread. The Minister of Health of the Tucumán province said today that “the patients are in a severe respiratory condition with pneumonia that is very reminiscent of the corona virus. The symptoms included high fever, body aches and difficulty breathing.”
While officials in Argentina sounded alarmed by the virus, many experts around the world sounded less concerned. An infectious disease expert at Boston University told the DailyMail: “The current level of risk for people from Western countries is 0.1 out of 10. In my experience over the last 20 years or so, there are constant periodic alerts that go out about a mystery disease or mystery pneumonia and this is in an area of the world where there is no ability A good diagnosis, and then they find out that it’s something not so rare as soon as comprehensive tests are done.”
A British medical professor told the BBC that “at this stage it’s quite impossible to say what the source of the virus might be, things like this happen from time to time. Often they just break out, but not always. Sometimes there are viruses that cause a significant local outbreak. Experts should have More answers within days about the virus itself.” Another senior British official said that “it is too early to comment on whether this poses a threat to the wider population or whether it will remain a local outbreak.”