Venezuela - Deaths in Maracay Central Hospital and elsehwere by unidentified illness(es?) - six deaths due to chikungunya confirmed

[Shiloh]

Re: Venezuela - Deaths in Maracay Central Hospital and elsehwere by unidentified illness(es?) - six deaths due to chikungunya confirmed

Source: http://online.wsj.com/articles/venezuela-seeks-to-quell-fears-of-disease-outbreak-1411409327


Venezuela Seeks to Quell Fears of Disease Outbreak
Government Seeks Doctor's Arrest for Saying Deaths Could Point to Mosquito-borne Disease
By
Juan Forero
Updated Sept. 22, 2014 4:36 p.m. ET

MARACAY, Venezuela?A string of deaths in a hospital here has sparked fears of a potent, mosquito-borne disease, led authorities to seek the arrest of a doctor for allegedly sowing panic and left residents wondering how to explain their symptoms.

Insisting there was no cause for general alarm, President Nicol?s Maduro accused the doctor who issued warnings about an unidentified disease of "psychological terrorism" and ordered his arrest.

Dr. Angel Sarmiento, president of the College of Doctors in Aragua state, told reporters on Sept. 11 that a virus or bacteria may have been responsible for the deaths of eight patients in quick succession at the Central Hospital of Maracay. A ninth patient died three days after Mr. Sarmiento's comments.

The concern in Maracay over the deaths of the hospital patients and confusion over who to believe illustrate how even health policies become political in Venezuela. The silencing of independent media has also squelched the flow of information, political analysts and doctors here say.

"To dissent, to have a position different from the government, leads to a witch hunt," Mr. Sarmiento said in a telephone interview on Friday. "I am not a terrorist. I am a doctor." He said was still in Venezuela but was in hiding because he worried he would face a politically motivated prosecution...

 

[Gert van der Hoek]

Re: Venezuela - Deaths in Maracay Central Hospital and elsehwere by unidentified illness(es?) - six deaths due to chikungunya confirmed

See also:
Recent deaths in the country were for Chikungunya

computertranslation

A doctor says that ten of the dead in Maracay had the chikungunya virus in their blood

23/09/14 | 12. 00h EUROPA PRESS | MADRID

An epidemiologist has said on Tuesday that "at least ten" of the thirteen dead in Maracay by an "unknown disease" chikunguya had the virus in the blood, while another noted case has been dismissed and still waiting the results of the two other samples.

In a press conference at the Central University of Venezuela, representatives of several medical organizations have estimated that there may be at least 65,000 cases of chikungunya in Venezuela, compared to 398 cases announced by Health Minister Nancy Perez Sierra, last week.

Epidemiologist Julio Castro reported that the figures in this latest outbreak of chikungunya fever are the highest since this condition is fixed as a parameter makes seven epidemiological surveillance. As reported by the Venezuelan newspaper El Nacional ', doctors assume that the disease will remain in the country between 40 and 60 weeks.

It has also ensured that the thirteen people who died with hemorrhagic fever, joint pain and skin lesions in Maracay last week did not contract the virus in the Central Hospital of Maracay. "There is no infection in the hospital", he underlined.

However, Castro has placed as 'Patient Zero' a man of the Valles del Tuy who spent three days in a primary care center in the area and was later transferred to a clinic in Caracas, where he was treated for "symptoms of fever , joint pain four days of evolution "and" clear skin lesions with involvement of edema and swelling in the face and vasculitis lesions very important. "

"SEVERE OUTBREAK"

The doctor also pointed out that this virus is not transmitted between humans without the presence of vector transmission, which in this case are the Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus mosquitoes. He also explained that, because of the level of involvement --of 0.3 to 1 per 1,000 people develop the disease so grave--, it could prove the theory that the country faces "a very serious outbreak of chikungunya ".

For its part, the Ministry of Health has reported that there has been a 22.7 percent increase in the number of cases of chikungunya diagnosed last week regarding the above, which means that only between 7 and 13 September 128,209 patients with fever were recorded.

Doctors who have participated in the press conference, members of the National Academy of Medicine, the Venezuelan Society of Infectious Diseases, the Network of Scientific Medical Societies and the Venezuelan Institute of Tropical Medicine, UCV, among others, have asked the Executive to change the type of diagnosis, serological clinically, "as established by the World Health Organization (WHO)."

A NECESSARY Differentiation

Doctors have proposed a system of assessment and diagnosis of the virus from the application of an algorithm which uses symptoms and scores them to differentiate between cases of chikungunya and dengue fever, another disease that also spans the country and has already affected 48,687 people throughout the year according to the latest report from the Ministry.

The parameters necessary to differentiate between these two diseases, the vector of transmission is the same, renal, hepatic, coagulation and altered states of consciousness include data.

ALLEGATIONS OF HIDING

About a hundred doctors met on September 17 night in Ottawa to denounce the government of Nicolas Maduro "hidden data" on the death of these thirteen patients by an 'unknown disease'.

Beyond the political controversies raised by the complaint, the network of Medical Scientific Societies has expressed support to the College of Physicians of Aragua respect of judicial proceedings that the state governor, Tarek el Aissami, announced it will open against president of the trade association, Angel Sarmiento.

"We are deeply concerned by the fact that hundreds of doctors today raised their voice for patients to be criminalized," he assured.

So, it has also revealed that physicians have a legal obligation to report "any unknown disease" going public and notify authorities what happened.

TeleCinco.es

 

[alert]

Re: Venezuela - Deaths in Maracay Central Hospital and elsehwere by unidentified illness(es?) - six deaths due to chikungunya confirmed

The political mess continues to worsen. Check out Dr. Orihuela's most recent tweets, where, among other things, he is now referring to the governor of Aragua as "Senor ISIS":

https://twitter.com/raforih

(Caution: Some of the language here is a bit foul. - alert)

 

[Gert van der Hoek]

Re: Venezuela - Deaths in Maracay Central Hospital and elsehwere by unidentified illness(es?) - six deaths due to chikungunya confirmed

In Venezuela, doctor flees after being accused of terrorism amid fever outbreak


23 September 2014

Eleven days after news broke that an unknown disease had killed eight people in the city of Maracay, Venezuela, doctors have concluded that the deaths were caused by chikungunya, a mosquito-borne virus.

Meanwhile, ?ngel Sarmiento, the doctor who first announced the deaths, has fled the country after being accused of terrorism by President Nicol?s Maduro.

Although officials initially speculated that the deaths were caused by an unknown hemorrhagic fever, six of the eight original fatalities tested positive for chikungunya when samples were analyzed in nongovernmental labs, says Julio Castro, the health minister of the municipality of Sucre and a professor in the Institute of Tropical Medicine at the Central University of Venezuela (UCV). ?We don?t think these deaths are due to an unknown or rare disease,? he told ScienceInsider, adding that ?I have no doubt? that chikungunya is responsible.

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