Gert van der Hoek
In Memoriam - Editor, Senior Moderator
CHILE: ENGLISH TOURIST DIES OF LIKELY HANTA INFECTION
Written by Patagonia Times Staff
Thursday, 04 December 2008
A 24-year-old tourist from England died in a Temuco hospital this week, presumably the victim of a hantavirus infection he developed while traveling in nearby Argentina, the Chilean daily El Mecurio reported.
Stefan Faire Brother spent several days in the San Mart?n de los Andes area of Argentina before crossing into Chile?s Region IX this past weekend. Upon arriving in Puc?n, the English traveler complained of flu-like symptoms and severe respiratory problems. First treated in a local hospital, he was later transferred to Temuco?s Cl?nica Alemana, where he passed away on Tuesday.
Although health authorities have yet to confirm the exact cause of death, they suspect Faire may have been infected by a particularly virulent hantavirus strain so far unknown on the Chilean side of the border.
Southern Chile and Argentina are recognized hotspots for the deadly virus, which was first discovered in the early 1950s during the Korean War. The illness in fact takes its name from South Korea?s Hantaan River. Hantavirus is also present in the United States, Europe, China, Russia, Brazil and Panama.
Humans can contract the virus through contact with rodents and their urine or feces. Dried rodent droppings, which can turn to power and thus be inhaled by people, are particularly dangerous.
The illness usually takes two to four weeks to incubate and can begin with severe flu-like symptoms. It can eventually cause internal hemorrhaging and major organ failure.
According to Chile?s Health Ministry, there have been 37 confirmed hantavirus cases this year, seven of them fatal. Since 2001, 209 people (38 percent of the 581 confirmed cases) have been killed by the illness in Chile.
http://www.patagoniatimes.cl/index....H-TOURIST-DIES-OF-LIKELY-HANTA-INFECTION.html
Written by Patagonia Times Staff
Thursday, 04 December 2008
A 24-year-old tourist from England died in a Temuco hospital this week, presumably the victim of a hantavirus infection he developed while traveling in nearby Argentina, the Chilean daily El Mecurio reported.
Stefan Faire Brother spent several days in the San Mart?n de los Andes area of Argentina before crossing into Chile?s Region IX this past weekend. Upon arriving in Puc?n, the English traveler complained of flu-like symptoms and severe respiratory problems. First treated in a local hospital, he was later transferred to Temuco?s Cl?nica Alemana, where he passed away on Tuesday.
Although health authorities have yet to confirm the exact cause of death, they suspect Faire may have been infected by a particularly virulent hantavirus strain so far unknown on the Chilean side of the border.
Southern Chile and Argentina are recognized hotspots for the deadly virus, which was first discovered in the early 1950s during the Korean War. The illness in fact takes its name from South Korea?s Hantaan River. Hantavirus is also present in the United States, Europe, China, Russia, Brazil and Panama.
Humans can contract the virus through contact with rodents and their urine or feces. Dried rodent droppings, which can turn to power and thus be inhaled by people, are particularly dangerous.
The illness usually takes two to four weeks to incubate and can begin with severe flu-like symptoms. It can eventually cause internal hemorrhaging and major organ failure.
According to Chile?s Health Ministry, there have been 37 confirmed hantavirus cases this year, seven of them fatal. Since 2001, 209 people (38 percent of the 581 confirmed cases) have been killed by the illness in Chile.
http://www.patagoniatimes.cl/index....H-TOURIST-DIES-OF-LIKELY-HANTA-INFECTION.html