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SEVERAL CASES OF FATAL ILLNESS , NOVEL ARENAVIRUS STRAIN? - SOUTH AFRICA ex ZAMBIA

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  • #91
    Re: UNDIAGNOSED FATALITIES - SOUTH AFRICA ex ZAMBIA: REQUEST FOR INFORMATION [ProMedMail.org]

    Two more show signs of fever

    12 October 2008, 10:39
    By Eleanor Momberg, Myrtle Ryan, Liz Clarke and Niyantha Singh

    Two more people have been admitted to the Morningside Medi-Clinic for observation after they showed signs of viral haemorrhagic fever.

    The hospital confirmed on Saturday that a man was admitted on Thursday night and a woman on Friday. The woman is the second nurse to show signs of the disease.

    At the same time, two relatives of Gladys Mthembu, the nurse who died after being admitted to the Sir Albert Robinson Hospital in Randfontein, were discharged after being given a clean bill of health. They were Mthembu's 11-year-old son and his 23-year-old nanny.

    A cleaning supervisor at Morningside, who was admitted to Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital in Soweto on Monday with symptoms of viral haemorrhagic fever, has since been discharged.

    A total of 154 people remain under out-of-hospital observation for the signs of the mystery disease.

    The outbreak has claimed three lives in South Africa since September 14, when Cecilia "Silky" van Deventer, a safari operator, died two days after being flown to Morningside from Zambia, apparently with tick-bite fever.

    Hannes Els, the paramedic who treated Van Deventer, was admitted to the hospital on September 27, but died on October 2.

    Mthembu, who also treated Van Deventer, subsequently went on leave and became ill at home. She went to her personal doctor, who referred her to the Sir Albert Robinson hospital, where she was admitted on October 1. Morningside was notified of her death on October 5.

    Melinda Pelser, a Morningside spokesperson, said Maria Mokubung, a cleaner at the hospital who died at Charlotte Maxeke Hospital in Johannesburg, had a chronic illness for which she had been receiving treatment at Chris Hani Baragwanath hospital.

    All the people who have been placed under observation have had direct contact with the people who died at Morningside.

    Pelser said that, as a safety precaution, people who may have had direct contact with the patients who died at the hospital were being monitored and would continue to be monitored for 21 days from the time of their last contact.

    "This number was initially 55 and has now been extended to 67 people. The monitoring consists of regular temperature checks and a daily check in with the Morningside Medi-Clinic. These people are not in isolation or quarantine and can continue with their daily activities," she said.

    In addition, the department of health said that it was monitoring 66 people who may have had direct contact with Mthembu.

    The World Health Organisation (WHO) said on Saturday that 23 people known to have had contact with the patients who died were being monitored in Zambia. None were symptomatic.

    Clinical features common to the three patients include fever, headache, diarrhoea and muscle pain, which then developed into rash and hepatic (liver) dysfunction, followed by rapid deterioration and death, the WHO said.

    "There is no indication at this point of the need for any restriction of travel to or from Zambia or South Africa and no special measures are required for passengers arriving from these countries," a WHO statement said.

    What virologists were still trying to determine was which of the haemorrhagic viruses was responsible for the outbreak.

    There was still concern about the family of Mthembu, who died last week in a Randfontein hospital. Mthembu had been urged to return to Morningside for treatment, but had chosen to be admitted to a local hospital, close to her family. Little is known about follow-up steps by the hospital to isolate those who came into contact with her.

    Zambian authorities said they were still trying to trace people who had had contact with Van Deventer.

    Blood samples from all three victims who died in South Africa have been sent by the National Institute for Communicable Diseases to the Centres for Disease Control in the United States. The results are expected before the end of the week.

    South African specialists are also continuing their tests.

    Professor Alan Smith, an eminent virologist, said the reason why virologists at the Special Pathogens Unit in Johannesburg - the only Level 4 laboratory in Africa - were taking so long to come up with an answer was that it was probably an emergent disease.

    If it were Congo fever, it would have been identified in a few days, he said. "Ebola was one such emergent disease and in 1975 another was Marburg disease.

    "There is no need to panic. Humans can only be infected through direct contact with the blood, urine or faeces of an infected person," he said.

    Comment


    • #92
      Re: UNDIAGNOSED FATALITIES - SOUTH AFRICA ex ZAMBIA: REQUEST FOR INFORMATION [ProMedMail.org]

      2 admitted to monitor fever
      2008-10-12

      -snip-

      Morningside Medi-Clinic was currently monitoring 67 people who were contacts of those who died at the hospital. Their temperatures were taken for signs of change every six hours. However, this was being done from their homes. Charlotte Maxeke Academic hospital were monitoring their own list of contacts of the nurse who died in that hospital. Gauteng health spokeswoman Zanele Mngadi said on Saturday she was receiving continual hourly updates from the outbreak response team.

      The World Health Organisation said up to 144 people who had contact with the three people killed by the illness were being traced. "121 known contacts of the fatal cases are being traced in South Africa and 23 in Zambia," the organisation said on Friday. Epidemologists are still searching for the cause of the haemorrhagic fever. Pelser emphasised that only people who were in direct contact with the bodily fluids of a person who had a confirmed case of the virus could be infected.

      Comment


      • #93
        Re: UNDIAGNOSED FATALITIES - SOUTH AFRICA ex ZAMBIA: REQUEST FOR INFORMATION [ProMedMail.org]

        Fliers shocked by lack of security

        12 October 2008, 11:33

        South Africans who recently visited Zambia were shocked upon their return that no control measures had been put in place at airports in this country to screen their health.

        A group of engineers who had left for Livingstone, Zambia, on Monday amid the breaking news of the three deaths at the Morningside Clinic said they had been extremely apprehensive about venturing into Zambia on Monday.

        "We were panicking about our health, but upon inquiry at the OR Tambo International Airport, we were told they had not been issued with any instructions to advise travellers any differently.

        "My colleagues and I were not sure what to expect but boarded the flight nonetheless. There was little news coming through and all we knew at the time was that three people had died as a result of an infection contracted in Zambia.

        "In fact, I was just waiting for one of my colleagues to say that they were not going and I would have joined him," said Raveen Maharaj, of Durban.

        He said there was no information or public alarm about the infection in Zambia.

        Maharaj said when they returned on Thursday, he was shocked that they were allowed to re-enter South Africa without anyone checking on them.

        "We were expecting to be quarantined. On our flight there were people from all over the world...America, UK, and everyone was talking about the infection. On board the plane, the flight attendants just sprayed the air with a disinfectant as they normally do on international flights. That was it. There were no stops, no checks.

        "Not one person even asked if we were feeling vaguely ill with flu-like symptoms. At passport control I told the attendants we were just in from Zambia and asked whether there were any health checks. All the attendant could do was say 'nice country'."

        Maharaj said he was not overly concerned because they had not gone to Lusaka and he had been given all the prescribed preventative injections before he left.

        Comment


        • #94
          Re: UNDIAGNOSED FATALITIES - SOUTH AFRICA ex ZAMBIA: REQUEST FOR INFORMATION [ProMedMail.org]

          Hunting Virus X
          Oct 12 2008 06:00

          A virus new to humanity, or an old acquaintance dressed up in slightly new clothes, the disease that so far appears to have achieved a 100% kill rate in Johannesburg, is now up against the full might of humanity's scientific detectives.

          So far three people have died from the mysterious disease, which has retained its anonymity through an extensive first round of laboratory testing for viral haemorrhagic fevers.

          Based on the pattern of disease and a suspected tick bite on the first patient, the pathogen -- let us call it Virus X -- is suspected of being Crimean-Congo Haemorrhagic Fever (CCHF) or Lassa fever, or one of their close relatives.

          Such a diagnosis would be relatively good news if Virus X has infected other people, because these pathogens are estimated to kill about 30% of their victims. The nastier haemorrhagic fevers such as Ebola and Marburg have achieved kill rates of up to 90% in some outbreaks. There is also one antiviral, ribavirin, which can be used against CCHF and Lassa.

          In the words of one World Health Organisation expert, haemorrhagic viruses kill by "melting the organs". They disrupt the body's internal structure and damage the clotting mechanism. The patient effectively bleeds to death either internally, or with dramatic bleeding from all orifices detailed in several books and films. Blood pressure falls and the patient dies from multi-organ failure.

          Professor Guy Richards is an intensive care specialist at Charlotte Mxenge Johannesburg Hospital and one of the doctors who treated the outbreak of Ebola in Johannesburg in the late 1990s. In that case the original patient, a man flown in from Congo, survived. Sadly the nurse treating him died.

          He says the haemorrhagic fevers typically attack the endothelial cells lining the blood vessels. The blood vessel system, with its myriad branching arteries, veins and capillaries, is the largest organ inside the body. The membranes of these cells are damaged and fluids leak in and out of the holed cells which are no longer able to maintain their cohesion with their neighbours. Blood vessels collapse, blood pressure falls and the patient dies.

          Usually the best medical workers can do is try to keep the patient alive by giving fluids and keeping them cool, and hope that the individual's immune system will be able to fight off the pathogen. Another infectious disease doctor says that the problem is that measures to help the patient, such as inserting drips or tubes to help them breathe, can then trigger further bleeding.

          Samples of Virus X are undergoing further tests at the National Institute of Communicable Diseases in Johannesburg, which is one of the few laboratories in any developing country with the infrastructure and skills to test for such dangerous and rare pathogens. The institute's Lucille Blumberg, who leads the laboratory investigations, says that it will probably take several days for Virus X to be identified -- and there is a chance it could be a new virus making its way on to the world stage.

          There are no conclusive answers about the cause of three deaths in Johannesburg, thought to have been haemorrhagic fever.

          Comment


          • #95
            Re: UNDIAGNOSED FATALITIES - SOUTH AFRICA ex ZAMBIA: REQUEST FOR INFORMATION [ProMedMail.org]

            <TABLE class=border id=HEADLINES cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" bgColor=#b3d2f3 border=0><TBODY><TR><TD class=fptextBlack style="PADDING-RIGHT: 5px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; PADDING-BOTTOM: 5px; PADDING-TOP: 5px" bgColor=#e6e6e6>Morningside Medi-Clinic continues to monitor patients 12/10/2008 07:45:01
            </TD></TR><TR><TD class=fptextBlack bgColor=#ffffff>


            Officials at the Morningside Medi-Clinic say people who may have caught a viral hemorrhagic fever at the Johannesburg facility will continue to be monitored for another two weeks as a precautionary measure.

            It comes as two people including a nursing sister were admitted to the clinic for closer monitoring on Thursday night.

            Hospital officials say the pair are among a group of 67 people who are being monitored after they came into contact with patients who died of the disease in recent weeks.

            A woman who was brought in from Zambia, the paramedic who accompanied her and a nurse at the facility have all died of the illness.

            Medi-Clinic's Melinda Pelser says there other people have been admitted and discharged over the past week.

            Meanwhile, health officials say they're hoping to find out exactly which virus has hit Gauteng.

            Experts have repeatedly warned the public they're not at risk of infection.http://www.702.co.za/news/news.asp#95419
            </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
            CSI:WORLD http://swineflumagazine.blogspot.com/

            treyfish2004@yahoo.com

            Comment


            • #96
              Re: UNDIAGNOSED FATALITIES - SOUTH AFRICA ex ZAMBIA: REQUEST FOR INFORMATION [ProMedMail.org]

              SA's mystery virus identified - rodents carriers
              October 12, 2008, 17:15

              The mystery viral haemorrhagic fever which killed three people in South Africa has been provisionally identified as an arenavirus, the National Institute for Communicable diseases and the Department of Health said today.

              "The causative agent of the disease... may be a rodent-borne arenavirus related to the lassa fever virus of West Africa," said NICD's Dr Lucille Blumberg. She said tests done by the NICD and the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta US indicated that the disease seemed to be a kind of an arenavirus.

              Arenaviruses cause chronic infections in multimammatic mice - a kind of wild mouse - which excretes the virus in its urine which can then contaminate human food or house dust. Viruses similar to the lassa fever virus have been found in rodents in Africa, but other than in West Africa have not been found to cause diseases in humans.

              Therefore further tests still need to be done to find out whether this current strain is an undiscovered member of the arenavirus and what its distribution is.
              Blumberg said a female nurse and a male paramedic were currently in isolation after they were in contact with those who previously died from the illness.

              The paramedic has since been diagnosed with kidney stones and Blumberg said it was "less likely" he had the virus. The nurse is "highly suspect" and is receiving anti-viral medication. She was presently stable, but Blumberg could not say more on how her condition was likely to progress. - Sapahttp://www.sabcnews.com/south_africa...178151,00.html
              CSI:WORLD http://swineflumagazine.blogspot.com/

              treyfish2004@yahoo.com

              Comment


              • #97
                Re: UNDIAGNOSED FATALITIES - SOUTH AFRICA ex ZAMBIA: REQUEST FOR INFORMATION [ProMedMail.org]

                Mystery virus identified

                12 October 2008, 15:20The mystery viral haemorrhagic fever which killed three people in South Africa has been provisionally identified as an arenavirus, the National Institute for Communicable Diseases and the Department of Health said on Sunday.

                "The causative agent of the disease...may be a rodent-born arenavirus related to the Lassa fever virus of West Africa," NICD's Dr Lucille Blumberg said at the Charlotte Maxexe Johannesburg Academic Hospital.

                She said tests done by the NICD and the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta, US, indicated that the disease seemed to be a kind of an arenavirus. The World Health Organisation has also been providing technical assistance.

                Arenaviruses cause chronic infections in multimammatic mice - a kind of wild mouse - who excrete the virus in their urine which can then contaminate human food or house dust.

                Viruses similar to the Lassa fever virus has been found in rodents in Africa, but other than in West Africa have not been found to cause diseases in humans.

                She said there was no indication that arenaviruses which could cause disease in humans were present in South African rodents.

                Blumberg said further tests still needed to be done.

                "It needs to be determined whether it is a previously unrecognised member of the arenaviruses and what its distribution is," she said.

                The NICD's Robert Swanepoel there were viruses of this family in Southern Africa but that this could be an undiscovered kind.

                "Not every country has been thoroughly searched,"
                he said.

                He said the kind of rodents who carried the virus were not generally found in urban areas.

                "They are out there but attracted [to human dwellings] if there is inadequate waste disposal."

                Crop disposal and animal feed also sometimes attracted them, he said.

                He said the kinds of viruses could range from causing mild fevers to being lethal.

                There were only three cases to go on for the kind of arenavirus now discovered but "it looks like it is very lethal," he said.

                Head of the NICD's Special Pathogens Unit, Dr Janusz T Paweska, said the arenavirus diagnosis came about after a number of tests.

                Biopsys conducted on the last two victims where infected tissues, skin, liver and muscles were tested were critically important in being able to make a diagnosis.

                A blood sample obtained in Zambia from the first victim also confirmed test results.

                He said doctors were now waiting for the virus to grow in cell culture to conduct further tests to identify what strain it was.


                Gauteng health MEC said the first victim of the virus was 36-year-old Cecilia van Deventer, who was airlifted from Zambia to the Morningside Medi Clinic in Sandton on September 12 in a critical condition.

                She is known to have lived in a smallholding on the outskirts of Lusaka where she kept three horses, although the exact point of contamination has never been discovered.

                She fell ill on September 8 and was treated in three different hospitals in Lusaka. Once in South Africa she was treated for tick bite fever and other potential infections, but died two days later.

                She was not tested for viral haemorrhagic fever.

                On September 27 a Zambian paramedic who accompanied her into the country was admitted into the hospital with similar flu-like symptoms, fever and a skin rash and viral haemorrhagic fever was queried.

                He developed diarrhoea, severe headaches, nausea and vomiting and although he initially seemed to respond to treatment, died on October 2 at the clinic.

                A third victim of the virus was a nurse from Morningside Medi-Clinic who attended to Deventer.

                She became ill with fever 18 days after Deventer was admitted to the hospital and consulted a general practitioner, receiving intravenous therapy.

                She was then referred to Robinson Hospital in Randfontein and later transferred due to a bedding shortage to Sir Albert Clinic. Here she was treated for a suspected case of meningitis.

                Her condition deteriorated and she died last Sunday.

                A fourth person, a contract cleaner working at Morningside Medi-clinic Maria Mokubung, 37, died in Charlotte Maxeke Academic hospital.

                Earlier this week the health department said her death was not related to viral haemorrhagic fever.

                On Sunday, Blumberg said a female nurse and a male paramedic were currently in isolation after they were in contact with the deceased.

                The paramedic had contact with Deventer and after developing flu-like symptoms and a fever was admitted to Flora clinic. He was subsequently transferred to Morningside medi-clinic and diagnosed with kidney stones.

                On Sunday Blumberg said it was "less likely" he had the virus.

                The second person in isolation is a nurse who had contact with a paramedic that died. She has developed symptoms similar to the three deceased and is receiving anti-viral medication called ribavirin.

                The department of health said she was presently stable.

                Blumberg said she "highly suspect" to have contracted the virus and could not say further how her condition was likely to progress.

                This week three other people who had been hospitalised after contact with the deceased were discharged.

                On Friday morning the eleven year-old son of the nursing sister who died and his 23- year-old nanny were discharged.

                A cleaning supervisor at Morningside Medi-Clinic who had been admitted to the Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital on Monday with symptoms of viral haemorrhagic fever was also released.

                On Sunday,Hlongwa said she was currently "well".

                All three continued to be monitored as part of the disease surveillance system currently tracking 151 people who had contact with the deceased.

                Blumberg said arenaviruses could cause a disease which spreads from human to human through contact fluid.

                In hospital settings, special precautions were needed when nursing patients.

                People in contact with those who have contracted the virus must be monitored for 21 days following their last contact with the patient.

                Their body temperature is monitored and those who develop fever or illness are admitted to an isolation ward in the hospital.

                Blumberg said there was a drug which showed promising results in treating patients if their illnes was recognised early.

                Those who have been in contact with patients but are well, do not spread infection.

                On Sunday, Gauteng health MEC Brian Hlongwa said the diagnosis of the virus was a step forward.

                "We are now a step further because we know specifically what we are dealing with."

                However, it was still vital to conduct more tests to find out kind of arenavirus it was, he said.

                Director General Thami Mseleku cautioned South Africans not to now fear that every mouse that came their way contained the virus.

                Since the virus first broke out, medical officials have been at pains to emphasise that the general public is not at risk as only people who were in direct contact with the bodily fluids of a person who had a confirmed case of the virus could be infected. - Sapa http://www.thestar.co.za/?fSectionId...2218513C975048
                CSI:WORLD http://swineflumagazine.blogspot.com/

                treyfish2004@yahoo.com

                Comment


                • #98
                  Re: UNDIAGNOSED FATALITIES - SOUTH AFRICA ex ZAMBIA: REQUEST FOR INFORMATION [ProMedMail.org]

                  Virology laboratories put on high alert

                  12 October 2008, 11:55
                  In the wake of the deaths linked to the "mystery disease", the National Institute for Communicable Diseases has placed several virology laboratories around the country on alert.

                  What is baffling scientists is that two of the victims, Hannes Els and Gladys Mthembu, showed an initial improvement, but then had a sudden and marked deterioration in mental state, rhabdomyolysis (a rapid breakdown of skeletal muscles) in one case, and evidence of acute and severe hepatic necrosis (death of cells).

                  The clinical and laboratory features in all three victims included about seven days of fever, headache, diarrhoea and myalgia (painful muscles) in the early stages, followed by an acute illness with fever of 38C, a morbilliform (measle-like) rash in two patients, thrombocytopenia (abnormal decrease in the number of platelets in the blood) and mild hepatic (liver) dysfunction in two patients.

                  While bleeding was not a marked clinical feature, oozing from venepuncture sites (where needles have been inserted into the veins) had been noted, as well as a petechial rash (small spots indicating subcutaneous bleeding) in one patient.

                  The Institute said laboratory tests to date had proved negative for Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic fever, Ebola, Marburg, Lassa fever and Rift Valley fever viruses.

                  The Hantavirus (the source of Korean haemorraghic fever) had also proved negative.

                  The Institute explained that no specimens were available from Van Deventer, who died soon after arriving in South Africa, but she had been given a diagnosis of "tick bite fever".

                  Negative results to date, said the Institute, could be attributed to the late collection of specimens (day 10 of illness), and virus variants not detected by current molecular and serological assays.

                  Blood cultures to date had been negative and further laboratory testing was continuing.

                  It was believed, though, that a viral haemorrhagic fever was the culprit.

                  No further cases had been identified in either South Africa or Zambia and the authorities believe this was an isolated case with secondary transmission.

                  Finally, the Institute said the recent case of Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic fever (CCHF) from Calvinia in the Northern Cape was not linked to the above cluster.

                  That patient, an abattoir worker, is now clinically stable.

                  http://www.thestar.co.za/index.php?fSectionId=&fArticleId=vn200810120901486 80C872674
                  CSI:WORLD http://swineflumagazine.blogspot.com/

                  treyfish2004@yahoo.com

                  Comment


                  • #99
                    Re: UNDIAGNOSED FATALITIES - SOUTH AFRICA ex ZAMBIA: REQUEST FOR INFORMATION [ProMedMail.org]

                    Post #97:

                    So the woman admitted on 10/9 is a paramedic, her contact was Deventer (index case). She had flu-like symptoms & a fever. Was reconciled from Flora clinic to Morningside. Diag: kidney stones.

                    The other person admitted was a nurse. Her contact was Hannes Els (paramedic). She has symptoms similar to the 3 that died. Receiving anti-viral: ribavirin. Stable.

                    Comment


                    • Re: UNDIAGNOSED FATALITIES - SOUTH AFRICA ex ZAMBIA: REQUEST FOR INFORMATION [ProMedMail.org]

                      Post #98:

                      Negative results to date, said the Institute, could be attributed to the late collection of specimens (day 10 of illness), and virus variants not detected by current molecular and serological assays.
                      Could be my notes are incorrect. I have the Nurse, Gladys Mthembu as symptom onset of 10/1. Died on 10/5.

                      Hannes Els, paramedic, symptom onset of 9/27. Died on 10/2.

                      Anyone else have varying information?

                      Comment


                      • Re: UNDIAGNOSED FATALITIES - SOUTH AFRICA ex ZAMBIA: REQUEST FOR INFORMATION [ProMedMail.org]

                        ARENAVIRUSES
                        1 Summary
                        ? Arenaviruses: Transmission via rodents or nosocomial infection [nosocomial: (of a disease) originating in a hospital]
                        ? Clinically atypical febrile, haemorrhagic, neurological or pulmonary syndrome.
                        ? Ribavirin is used in Lassa fever

                        2 General
                        CD_1067_046c.jpg
                        The name of arenaviruses refers to their granular appearance under an electron microscope (L. arena = sand). This structure is brought about by the inclusion of electron dense host cell ribosomes in the viral envelope. They are RNA viruses, of which the genome consists of a short and a long RNA fragment. Some viruses from this group are pathogenic for humans. Our knowledge concerning these viruses is clearly incomplete. Many arenaviruses have a rodent reservoir. Taracibe virus was isolated from fruit-eating bats.

                        Known pathogenic arenaviruses:
                        ? Lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus
                        ? Lassa virus (with substrains Josiah, Nigeria, LP, AV)
                        ? Junin virus
                        ? Machupo virus

                        Non-pathogenic arenaviruses and viruses with unknown pathogenicity:
                        ? Mopeia, Mobala, Ippy, Acar (Old World)
                        ? Tacaribe, Tamiami, Parana, Amapari, Flexal, Pichende, Latino, Oliveros (New World)
                        *
                        Nosocomial transmission and transmission via infected body fluids are known for Lassa fever, Ebola and Marburg virus as well as other non-arboviral haemorrhagic fevers. The Bunya-, Filo- and Flaviviruses are cytolytic. They destroy cells, particularly endothelial cells. The incubation time is usually less than one week. Arenaviruses are not cytolytic. [cytolysis: the dissolution or disruption of cells, esp. by an external agent.] They act indirectly by forming antigen-antibody complexes and activating complement. The incubation time is longer than in the other groups.
                        -snip-

                        Comment


                        • Re: UNDIAGNOSED FATALITIES - SOUTH AFRICA ex ZAMBIA: REQUEST FOR INFORMATION [ProMedMail.org]

                          Sunday October 12, 2008

                          Mystery S.Africa disease may be rodent borne
                          -snip-
                          The causative agent of the disease ... may be a rodent borne arenavirus related to the lassa fever virus of West Africa," SAPA quoted Lucille Blumberg of the National Institute for Communicable Diseases as saying.

                          Blumberg could not be reached directly and the health authorities declined to comment on the report.
                          -snip-

                          Comment


                          • Re: UNDIAGNOSED FATALITIES - SOUTH AFRICA ex ZAMBIA: REQUEST FOR INFORMATION [ProMedMail.org]

                            Virus identified - nurse ill
                            12/10/2008 21:50
                            -snip-
                            More tests needed

                            She said there was no indication that arenaviruses which could cause disease in humans were present in South African rodents.

                            Blumberg said further tests still needed to be done.

                            "It needs to be determined whether it is a previously unrecognised member of the arenaviruses and what its distribution is," she said.

                            The NICD's Robert Swanepoel said there were viruses of this family in southern Africa, but that this could be an undiscovered kind.

                            "Not every country has been thoroughly searched," he said.

                            He said the kind of rodents that carried the virus were not generally found in urban areas.

                            "They are out there, but are attracted [to human dwellings] if there is inadequate waste disposal."

                            Crops and animal feed also sometimes attracted them, he said.

                            He said the effects of the various viruses could range from causing mild fevers to being lethal.

                            'Very lethal'

                            There were only three cases to go on for the kind of arenavirus now discovered, but "it looks like it is very lethal", he said.

                            Head of the NICD's Special Pathogens Unit, Dr Janusz T Paweska, said the arenavirus diagnosis came about after a number of tests.

                            Biopsies conducted on the last two victims where infected tissues, skin, liver and muscles were tested were critically important in being able to make a diagnosis.

                            A blood sample obtained in Zambia from the first victim also confirmed test results.

                            He said doctors were now waiting for the virus to grow in cell culture to conduct further tests to identify what strain it was.

                            -snip-

                            Comment


                            • Re: UNDIAGNOSED FATALITIES - SOUTH AFRICA ex ZAMBIA: REQUEST FOR INFORMATION [ProMedMail.org]

                              This is from MSNBC, and is not true.

                              Mystery S. Africa disease may be rodent borne
                              Three are dead from internal, external bleeding, others in isolation wards

                              http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27149176/


                              ETA: "The World Health Organisation has launched an urgent probe into the mystery viral fever incidents. What puzzles scientists is that bleeding is not a marked feature of this outbreak "

                              Comment


                              • Re: UNDIAGNOSED FATALITIES - SOUTH AFRICA ex ZAMBIA: REQUEST FOR INFORMATION [ProMedMail.org]

                                Originally posted by Commonground View Post
                                Post #98:



                                Could be my notes are incorrect. I have the Nurse, Gladys Mthembu as symptom onset of 10/1. Died on 10/5.

                                Hannes Els, paramedic, symptom onset of 9/27. Died on 10/2.

                                Anyone else have varying information?
                                Thanks Commonground. This is what it looks like to me too.

                                Comment

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