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Dr Gérald Kierzek (Medical Director of Doctissimo)
Medical validation:
September 05, 2022
In San Miguel de Tucuman, a third person died from this strange respiratory pathology. Covid-19 has already been ruled out by health authorities.
For the past few days, a strange illness has been shaking the Argentine government. It is a strange pneumonia of unknown origin, which has already claimed three victims in the province of Tucuman, in the northwest of Argentina. A total of nine people, including eight members of the nursing staff of the same private clinic, were infected.
A devastating lung infection
According to provincial health minister Luis Medina Ruiz, the first symptoms of the disease appeared between August 18 and 23.
” These patients have in common (the three deceased, editor’s note) a severe respiratory condition with bilateral pneumonia, and present imaging very similar to Covid, but this has been ruled out, ”he said on Thursday, before adding that “Most started with vomiting, high fever, diarrhea and body aches, with a more complex course in some “.
Tests are underway to determine the origin of the disease, but Covid-19, influenza types A and B, and hantavirus (a virus found in the urine, saliva or feces of rodents) have already been detected. discarded.
The virus samples were transferred to the Argentine Reference Laboratory, the Malbran Institute (Buenos Aires).
For the Minister of Health, it is likely that this pathology is the result of an infectious agent, but toxic and environmental causes are not excluded. This is why the clinic’s air conditioning systems and water are currently being tested.
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What is the profile of the victims?
Little information has circulated about the first two people who died – two members of the nursing staff at a clinic in Tucuman – but we do know that the third person is a 70-year-old woman.
She was hospitalized in the same private clinic as the other two victims and had undergone surgery.
This patient “ had been operated on for a gallbladder problem and then re-operated twice. From then on, there was a picture of lung infection which coincided with the appearance (of the symptoms) in the others “said Luis Medina Ruiz.
According to the provincial Minister of Health, she could be “in principle patient zero, but it is under examination”.