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Published Date: 2012-05-17 17:05:35
Subject: PRO/AH/EDR> Hantavirus update 2012 - Americas (15) Argentina, Chile, USA
Archive Number: 20120517.1136287

HANTAVIRUS UPDATE 2012 - AMERICAS (15): ARGENTINA, CHILE, USA
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In this update:
[1] Chile (Bio Bio)
[2] Argentina (Salta)
[3] USA (Illinois)

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[1] Chile (Bio Bio)
Date: 14 May 2012
Source: Terra [in Spanish, trans. Mod.TY, edited]
http://noticias.terra.cl/nacional/isp-confirmo-nueva-victima-de-virus-hanta-en-el-biobio,a9ea43d8b1e47310VgnVCM3000009acceb0aRCRD.html

The Institute of Public Health [ISP] confirmed the results of tests on the 58-year-old patient from Coihueco, after local tests were positive for [a] hantavirus [infection]. He died in the Guillermo Grant Benavente Hospital in Concepcion.

The patient, from Nuble province, was taken to the hospital this past 11 May due to the seriousness of his clinical status and a rapid test that was done with positive results. However, the confirmation of the local test by the ISP was necessary, the results of which arrived this past Monday [14 May 2012].

The possible location where the infection was acquired is the Bureo Bajo sector in the Coihueco community, near his home, where the victim had been involved in risky activities traveling in the forest.

According to the Bio Bio Health SEREMI [regional governmental ministerial unit], there are 16 confirmed cases of hantavirus [infection], 6 with fatal outcomes. Most of these patients are male (15 individuals), with an average age of 31.8 years and a range of 13 - 61 years. Despite these [deaths], fewer deaths have been registered than in 2010 for the same dates, that had a case fatality rate of 60 per cent then.

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Communicated by:
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[Although not specified in this or previous reports from the region, the hantavirus involved in these cases is no doubt Andes virus. Since southern Chile is endemic for Andes virus and future cases can be expected, they no longer fit the criterion of an emerging or re-emerging disease and ProMED will no longer post them unless there is something unusual about them.

An image of the long-tailed pygmy rice rat (_Oligoryzomys longicaudatus_), the sigmodontine rodent host of Andes hantavirus, can be seen at http://www.bios.niu.edu/frayjorge/rod6.jpg.

A HealthMap/ProMED-mail interactive map showing the location of Coihueco in the Bio Bio region can be accessed at http://healthmap.org/r/2ovL - Mod.TY]

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[2] Argentina (Salto)
Date: Fri 4 May 2012
Source: Radio Salta [in Spanish, trans. Mod.TY, edited]
http://www.radiosalta.com/detalle_noticias.php?id_contenidos=13349

It is thought that the woman who died of [a] hantavirus [infection] became infected in the laundry where she worked. The provincial epidemiologist, Alberto Gentile, said that they found a vacant lot adjoining the laundry where lumber was discarded and that had wild rodent burrows.

The proximity of rodent feces could have [led to] the infection of the woman, the specialist explained to LV9 Radio Salta.

Gentile thought that the physicians in Apolinario Saravia were unable to diagnose the hantavirus [infection] in the woman, who died this past Saturday [28 Apr 2012], because there was no relationship of the victim with a wild area [rodent habitat].

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ProMED-mail from Health Map Alerts
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[Cases of hantavirus infections were reported from various parts of Argentina last year (2011) and this. The specific hantaviruses involved in these cases, including the current one above, are not specified.

As noted in ProMED-mail archive number 20110430.1348, several hantaviruses have been associated with human infection in Argentina: Andes virus (western Argentina, in the long-tailed pygmy rice rat host, _Oligoryzomys longicaudatus_); related Andes-like viruses Hu39694 (in central Argentina; rodent host unknown); Lechiguana (in central Argentina in the yellow pygmy rice rat _O. flavescens_); Oran (in northwestern Argentina in _O. longicaudatus_); and Bermejo (western Argentina in _O. flavescens_) virus. Without laboratory confirmation, it is not possible to say with certainty which hantavirus was involved in this case.

A HealthMap/ProMED-mail interactive map showing the location of Apolinario Saravia in Salta province be accessed at http://healthmap.org/r/2ovK. - Mod.TY]

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[3] USA (Illinois)
Date: Sat 12 May 2012
Source: Examiner [edited]
http://www.examiner.com/article/illinois-health-officials-report-case-of-hantavirus-pulmonary-syndrome

An Iroquois County man is the 3rd case of [a] hantavirus [infection] reported in Illinois since 1996 according to the Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH).

The IDPH announced Friday [11 May 2012] that the patient 1st exhibited symptoms of hantavirus pulmonary syndrome in late April of this year [2012] and was hospitalized in May with fever and shortness of breath. The patient has been discharged from the hospital and is recovering. The individual became ill after cleaning out a structure where rodents were seen.

According to PubMed Health, Hantaviruses [can cause] a life-threatening disease spread to humans by rodents, producing symptoms similar to influenza. Hantavirus[es] [are] carried by rodents, especially deer mice [_Peromyscus maniculatus_]. The virus is found in their urine and feces, but it does not make the animal sick.

It is believed that humans can get sick with this virus if they come in contact with contaminated dust from mouse nests or droppings. You may come in contact with such dust when cleaning homes, sheds, or other enclosed areas that have been empty for a long time.

[Byline: Robert Herriman]

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Communicated by:
ProMED-mail from Health Map Alerts
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[The hantavirus in this case is not specified, but probably is Sin Nombre virus. The site where these infections are acquired is often buildings or sheds that have been unused over the winter and harbor rodents, and human exposure occurs when these structures are cleaned out in the spring and summer.

An image of _Peromyscus maniculatus_, the rodent host of Sin Nombre virus, can be accessed at
http://www.ask.com/wiki/Peromyscus_maniculatus.

A HealthMap/ProMED-mail interactive map showing the location of Illinois is the central USA can be accessed at http://healthmap.org/r/00UV and Iroquois County at http://healthmap.org/r/2ovJ. - Mod.TY]

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