I'm not sure why a toxic exposure is not suspected as opposed to a viral one.
I am using the term "warehouse" as that is the translation used by ProMED, but "supermarket" can also be a translation of "bodega" in Spanish and would better explain the reference to food in the storeroom.
http://www.promedmail.org/pls/apex/..._BACK_PAGE,F2400_P1001_PUB_MAIL_ID:1000,88538
Archive Number 20110521.1551
Published Date 21-MAY-2011
Subject PRO/AH/EDR> Undiagnosed disease - Mexico: (GR) RFI
UNDIAGNOSED DISEASE - MEXICO: (GUERRERO) REQUEST FOR INFORMATION
****************************************************************
A ProMED-mail post
<http://www.promedmail.org>
ProMED-mail is a program of the
International Society for Infectious Diseases
<http://www.isid.org>
Date: Tue 17 May 2011
Source: La Jornada [in Spanish, trans. Corr.SB, edited]
<http://www.lajornadaguerrero.com.mx/2011/05/18/index.php?section=politica&article=005n3pol>
A man is bedridden, unable to move his legs, due to a strange virus
he believed to have contacted while cleaning a warehouse owned by the
state DIF [Desarrollo Integral de La Familia; Integrated Family
Development agency] system in this city [Tecpan]. According to this
DIF worker, 6 of his colleagues who cleaned the room with him have the
same symptoms and he fears an epidemic that could contaminate the food
inside the storeroom.
In an interview, the man of about 65 years said his health problems
started 3 months ago after cleaning a DIF warehouse storage [building]
located next to the prison in Tecpan. "I was the first to open the
doors of the small warehouse that had not been cleaned for more than 3
years, as well as [opening] the door of the bathroom inside, which had
a lot of bat droppings and other waste from rats and insects, which I
removed without any protection."
He continued: "The next day I started to feel sick. I got a very high
fever and my bones ached, so I went to Acapulco to be treated at the
Social Security [clinic] and where I was admitted for a month. But
when I was discharged and returned to my home in Santa Maria, I could
no longer feel my legs and from that day I am restricted to bed
without being able to move."
He explained further that the other 6 warehouse workers had the same
symptoms but to a lesser [degree], "Perhaps because I was the first to
inhale gases produced by animal manure I was more ill," he said.
He said he was also concerned that the food stored there, most of
which is for consumption by children in the municipality, might be
contaminated.
[Byline: Rodolfo Valadez Aladez Luviano]
--
Communicated by:
HealthMap Alerts via ProMED-mail
<promed@promedmail.org>
[The fact that there were 7 cases (the most affected individual above
and 6 other co-workers) suggests a point source of the etiological
agent involved. The accumulation of bat and other excrement in this
closed space makes one wonder if these might be cases of disseminated
Valley Fever (coccidioidomycosis -- an infection from inhalation of
the spores of the fungus _Coccidioides immitis_) that occurs in arid
regions of the southwestern USA, Central, and South America. Further
information about these cases and any laboratory results or additional
clinical findings would be of interest.
A HealthMap/ProMED-mail interactive map of Mexico showing the
location of Tecpan in Guerrero state can be accessed at
<http://healthmap.org/r/0RhS>. - Mod.TY]
[Coccidioidomycosis is a great thought. There isn't a lot of
clinical detail provided other than fever and muscle aches, prolonged
illness that might or might not be related to cleaning a building.
Legionellosis (Pontiac fever)? Typhus? Hypersensitivity pneumonitis?
- Mod.LM]
[Coccidioidomycosis sounds good, but the inability to move the legs
is difficult to explain unless he has a spinal abscess. The
information is inadequate to postulate further. - Mod.DK]
[There are so few details that it is impossible to know what it is.
We need at least data on a spinal tap and a scanning like an MRI. -
Mod.EP]
[Both histoplasmosis and coccidioidomycosis can be considered, but
the incubation period is way too short (1 day) for either. - Mod.LL]
I am using the term "warehouse" as that is the translation used by ProMED, but "supermarket" can also be a translation of "bodega" in Spanish and would better explain the reference to food in the storeroom.
http://www.promedmail.org/pls/apex/..._BACK_PAGE,F2400_P1001_PUB_MAIL_ID:1000,88538
Archive Number 20110521.1551
Published Date 21-MAY-2011
Subject PRO/AH/EDR> Undiagnosed disease - Mexico: (GR) RFI
UNDIAGNOSED DISEASE - MEXICO: (GUERRERO) REQUEST FOR INFORMATION
****************************************************************
A ProMED-mail post
<http://www.promedmail.org>
ProMED-mail is a program of the
International Society for Infectious Diseases
<http://www.isid.org>
Date: Tue 17 May 2011
Source: La Jornada [in Spanish, trans. Corr.SB, edited]
<http://www.lajornadaguerrero.com.mx/2011/05/18/index.php?section=politica&article=005n3pol>
A man is bedridden, unable to move his legs, due to a strange virus
he believed to have contacted while cleaning a warehouse owned by the
state DIF [Desarrollo Integral de La Familia; Integrated Family
Development agency] system in this city [Tecpan]. According to this
DIF worker, 6 of his colleagues who cleaned the room with him have the
same symptoms and he fears an epidemic that could contaminate the food
inside the storeroom.
In an interview, the man of about 65 years said his health problems
started 3 months ago after cleaning a DIF warehouse storage [building]
located next to the prison in Tecpan. "I was the first to open the
doors of the small warehouse that had not been cleaned for more than 3
years, as well as [opening] the door of the bathroom inside, which had
a lot of bat droppings and other waste from rats and insects, which I
removed without any protection."
He continued: "The next day I started to feel sick. I got a very high
fever and my bones ached, so I went to Acapulco to be treated at the
Social Security [clinic] and where I was admitted for a month. But
when I was discharged and returned to my home in Santa Maria, I could
no longer feel my legs and from that day I am restricted to bed
without being able to move."
He explained further that the other 6 warehouse workers had the same
symptoms but to a lesser [degree], "Perhaps because I was the first to
inhale gases produced by animal manure I was more ill," he said.
He said he was also concerned that the food stored there, most of
which is for consumption by children in the municipality, might be
contaminated.
[Byline: Rodolfo Valadez Aladez Luviano]
--
Communicated by:
HealthMap Alerts via ProMED-mail
<promed@promedmail.org>
[The fact that there were 7 cases (the most affected individual above
and 6 other co-workers) suggests a point source of the etiological
agent involved. The accumulation of bat and other excrement in this
closed space makes one wonder if these might be cases of disseminated
Valley Fever (coccidioidomycosis -- an infection from inhalation of
the spores of the fungus _Coccidioides immitis_) that occurs in arid
regions of the southwestern USA, Central, and South America. Further
information about these cases and any laboratory results or additional
clinical findings would be of interest.
A HealthMap/ProMED-mail interactive map of Mexico showing the
location of Tecpan in Guerrero state can be accessed at
<http://healthmap.org/r/0RhS>. - Mod.TY]
[Coccidioidomycosis is a great thought. There isn't a lot of
clinical detail provided other than fever and muscle aches, prolonged
illness that might or might not be related to cleaning a building.
Legionellosis (Pontiac fever)? Typhus? Hypersensitivity pneumonitis?
- Mod.LM]
[Coccidioidomycosis sounds good, but the inability to move the legs
is difficult to explain unless he has a spinal abscess. The
information is inadequate to postulate further. - Mod.DK]
[There are so few details that it is impossible to know what it is.
We need at least data on a spinal tap and a scanning like an MRI. -
Mod.EP]
[Both histoplasmosis and coccidioidomycosis can be considered, but
the incubation period is way too short (1 day) for either. - Mod.LL]
