Brazil - Ministry of Health confirms second human case of West Nile fever

[Gert van der Hoek]

Ministry of Health confirms second case of Nile fever in country

[FONT=&quot]14/02/19[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]BRAS?LIA, Brazil (FOLHAPRESS) - The Brazilian Ministry of Health confirmed the second case reported in the country of neurological disease by the West Nile virus, a type of arbovirose still unknown in Brazil.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Like dengue and zika, West Nile fever virus is transmitted through the bite of infected mosquitoes, mainly of the genus Culex (stilt).[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]The case is of a young woman who lives in the rural area of ​​Picos, in the interior of Piau?, and suffered a picture of acute flaccid muscle paralysis in June 2017.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]According to the State Department of Health, the exams were collected at the time, but the ministry released the results only earlier this year.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]The tests pointed to the presence of antibodies against the virus in the patient's blood. In note, the portfolio attributes the delay to the need for conclusive awards.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]This is the second confirmed case of the disease in the country. Until then, Brazil had recorded only one case of Nile fever, which occurred in August 2014.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]The patient, a 52-year-old cowboy from Aroeiras do Itaim, in the interior of Piau?, was hospitalized at the ICU at the time after presenting symptoms such as fever, headache, paralysis in the arms and legs, confusion and stiff neck.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]According to Marcelo Adriano Vieira, a neurologist at the Natan Portela Institute of Tropical Diseases who accompanied the case, the patient was discharged but had sequelae, such as walking difficulties.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Piau?[/FONT] State- wikipedia

 

[Gert van der Hoek]

See also:


Brazil confirms its first human case of West Nile virus

 

[Gert van der Hoek]

[FONT=&quot]The silent spread of West Nile virus in Brazil: non-human positive case in a beach tourist destination?Espirito Santo

Dennis Minoru Fujita Felipe Scassi Salvador Luiz Henrique da Silva Nali

Journal of Travel Medicine, Volume 25, Issue 1, 1 January 2018, tay052,https://doi.org/10.1093/jtm/tay052

Published:
31 July 2018[/FONT]



Dear Editor,
West Nile virus (WNV) is an emerging arbovirus related to a neurotropic flavivirus that usually infects birds, and can be accidentally transmitted to other animals, including humans.

Positive cases in humans are mainly asymptomatic (8 of 10 infected individuals), but a small portion present fever (1 in 5 infected individuals) with headache, myalgia, arthralgia, vomiting, diarrhoea or rash, common symptoms of other flaviviruses. The severe illness, with important neurological consequences, may affect only 1 in 150 of infected patients.[FONT=&quot]1Specific diagnostic tests are crucial for surveillance and local control.

Evidence of the viral circulation in Brazil was reported in equids in Amazon and Pantanal areas in 2009. The spread to the northeast region of the country, with positive cases in equids and birds, occurred in 2013. One year later, the first human case was detected (Piau? State).[FONT=&quot]2[/FONT]

WNV was silently transmitted, arriving now in Brazilian?s Southeast Region (Figure 1) according to the report of one equid death in 2018, June[FONT=&quot]3in Esp?rito Santo State, an important domestic tourist destination in Brazil, which currently presents other arboviruses? outbreaks as Zika (n = 219 reported cases), Chikungunya (n = 482 reported cases) and Dengue (n= 6.945 reported cases).[FONT=&quot]4[/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Figure 1.[/FONT][/FONT]

View largeDownload slide​

[FONT=&quot]Brazilian states?non-human positive cases of WNV.[/FONT]

The persistence of other arboviruses in the autumn/winter period points to the vectors population increasing in the region (including Aedes aegypti, Culex quinquefasciatus and others), a similar condition that affects other Brazilian states.

Considering that the virus infects birds, equids and also humans, areas with high-population density may be in alert (previous cases occurred in uninhabited locations) due to the fast spread of other arboviruses in the state. The existence of a similar favourable causal network in the USA contributed to the WNV epidemic in 1999.[FONT=&quot]5

We recommend, especially for domestic travellers, the use of mosquito repellents, especially icaridin, and to wear pants and shirts with long sleeves when visiting natural areas in Esp?rito Santo State. Unfortunately, there is no cure or vaccine for humans against WNV, only palliative treatment for the symptoms.

Other protective measures may be established such as public campaigns for mass information (including preventive instructions to avoid the disease) and the elimination of mosquito breeding sites in the urban areas (to reduce the transmission of arboviruses). Other actions of eco-epidemiological surveillance by the municipal and state government, aiming at fast identification of probable hosts in urban and peri-urban areas may become urgent.[/FONT]

 

[Gert van der Hoek]

See also:

WEST NILE FEVER IN BRAZIL: SPORADIC CASE, SILENT ENDEMIC DISEASE OR EPIDEMIC IN ITS INITIAL STAGES?