Tracking the next pandemic: Avian Flu Talk |
mystery virus hits south america |
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Loribearme
Adviser Group Joined: September 06 2007 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 2542 |
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Posted: April 18 2008 at 3:40am |
team of disease hunters has announced the discovery of a deadly new virus, found in a remote village in South America. Experts say the virus - named Chapare - is probably limited to a small swathe of Bolivia, but urbanisation and climate change could expand its range. "These pathogens will markedly increase the risk of outbreaks with significant loss of human life," says Stefan Kunz, a virologist at Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Vaudois in Lausanne, Switzerland, who was not part of the study. On 4 January 2003, a young farmer and tailor from the Bolivian village of Samuzabeti developed fever and headache. Over the following days, the 22-year-old's muscles and joints started throbbing, and he began vomiting and haemorrhaging blood. Two weeks later, he was dead.
A local doctor, Simon Delgado, had no idea what had killed the patient; tests for known infectious diseases such as dengue and yellow fever turned up negative. As a precaution, Delgado sent specimens to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta. There, researchers in the agency’s special pathogens branch unpacked the sample in their most secure laboratory. "When you suspect hemorrhagic fever, for safety reasons you have to work in a lab with high containment," explains CDC's Pierre Rollin. He and his colleagues donned ventilated full-body suits when working on the deadly virus – the same precautions taken to study Ebola. The CDC laboratory confirmed they were dealing with something never seen before. Tests on even the most obscure pathogens all turned up negative, Rollin says. When the researchers squirted the patient’s serum sample onto human cells growing in a Petri dish, a virus started multiplying. Rollin’s team dubbed it Chapare, after the victim’s home province. Further tests confirmed that this Chapare virus was a new beast, part of a deadly family called arenaviruses. In West Africa, the related Lassa virus infects about 300,000 to 500,000 each year, killing 5000, according to the World Health Organization. The South American forms are rarer, but far deadlier. “Quite often it's a severe disease, maybe in 30% of cases you have a fatal outcome,” Rollin says. There have been no human cases of Chapare virus since. Researchers at CDC hope to identify the virus’s host – probably a rodent – and determine the virus' prevalence. Charles Fulhorst, an arenavirus expert at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston, says Chapare is the tip of the iceberg. Many new species of virus lurk in South America – and perhaps North America. “Just when you think you know what’s out there, another one pops out,” he says. Rollin agrees and calls for more lab and field work to get a handle on Chapare. "There are lot of arenaviruses we don’t know," he says. "Are they going to be the new pandemic virus that’s going to wipe out the planet? I don’t think so, but they could be a local problem.") http://visz.rsoe.hu/alertmap/woalert_read.php?cid=16365&cat=dis&lang=eng
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Ravendawn
Valued Member Joined: March 16 2006 Location: United Kingdom Status: Offline Points: 462 |
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Thank you Revendawn for this connection about arenaviruses. It looks like we keep rodents away from us this should be no problem.
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Ravendawn
Valued Member Joined: March 16 2006 Location: United Kingdom Status: Offline Points: 462 |
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Anytime FluMom,well they say we have to learn from history the "black death" springs to mind with regard to rats,so lets hope the rats do not become the vessel for any mutation regarding H5N1.
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The existence of new hemorrhagic viruses in South America in addition to "Flesh eaters" has been known for over two years. This particular strain may be newly documented, but just as we watched the "killer bees" move slowly from South America where there are now species in Texas, it would appear that we in addition to Indonesia, must also monitor diseases spreading from south of the U.S. border with much greater vigilance.
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Loribearme
Adviser Group Joined: September 06 2007 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 2542 |
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OK guys here is a new one for you!
My boyfriend who never gets sick just all of a sudden spiked a high fever of 104.01
and his hands looked white and his nails were blue...strange? yeah, I told him to go to the ER but he refused saying it was probably the flu. besides his hands was he said he was very sick to stomach kind of nause but leaves you with a horrid dry mouth..,.. sounds kind of weird -- anyone --comments are welcome..
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white hands(maybe decreased blood flow and blood carries oxygen) and blue nails is lack of oxygen, any other symptoms? he really should go to the er. Has he taken anything for fever?
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Loribearme
Adviser Group Joined: September 06 2007 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 2542 |
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He took two ibuprofen. Made the fever drop from 104.1 to 102.3. |
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homescoolmama
Valued Member Joined: July 14 2006 Location: Canada Status: Offline Points: 115 |
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I would go the er wearing masks - both of u and get checked, low oxygen levels -how's his breathing, is he very weak? Or at the very least have an emt come to your place to assess...
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Let us know how you and he are doing.
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Loribearme
Adviser Group Joined: September 06 2007 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 2542 |
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Good news! I finally talked him into going to the ER. He has pnemonia in his left lung. This was confirmed on a chest xray. Not sure how get got it since he does not smoke, and his cough was not a big symptom. Zithromax should knock that out! This sure has been a bad flu season.
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Pneumonia is sudden onset with high fever(fits the diagnosis.) He should get plenty of rest during the remainder of this week. Fluids of course. Finish the course of meds and treat fever when 101.5 and above. Glad to hear the good news. |
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Loribearme, be sure he gets a pneumonia shot when the Drs say it is ok. I had it when I was 37 and I now get a shot every 10 years.
I am happy he is ok and on the mend. He will be very tired and needs lots of rest. Norein when I had pneumonia I had no fever and they could not figure out why but by the time my husband got me to the ER I don't remember walking in. They had to drain my right lung. Barely remember that... pneumonia is nothing to fool with. |
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