Claudio Andrade
02/04/2020 - 13:18
- Clarín.com
- Society
The first case of hantavirus of 2020 was detected in a province of Neuquén in the province and in the Cordillera region. This is a 28-year-old woman who lives near Meliquina Lake, 36 kilometers from San Martín de los Andes.
The patient lives in Villa Meliquina, a place of about 150 inhabitants. It is housed in intensive therapy, stable but with a prognosis reserved in the Castro Rendón hospital in Neuquén capital. Stay isolated and with a respirator, it was reported. Meanwhile, the 22 neighbors with whom she made contact, distributed in 11 homes, must comply with home insulation for 45 days. So far none of them have symptoms, said sources of the Ministry of Health of the province.
The woman was treated at a local health center on January 31 and, due to her condition, was transferred on a sanitary flight to Neuquén capital. The positive analysis was confirmed on February 3 by the Malbrán Institute.
The specialists speculate that the contagion occurred before an environmental exposure to rodents carrying the virus in the surroundings of Lake Meliquina or in a stay in the Andean region in Chubut where the woman was between December 23 and 27, 2019.
“Permanent physical condition monitoring is done and mental health monitoring is also done because they are prolonged isolation. It's called social isolation, ”said the Minister of Health of the province, Andrea Peve, regarding the neighbors of the place. “They are healthy, they are without symptoms. What is done is a containment and an accompaniment from the Health area in case at any time one of them presents any symptoms, in principle that we can work quickly, do a quick job of medication and others, and on the other hand they are not in contact with other people, ”he added.
“Multiple actions are being coordinated with the different areas of the Municipality of San Martín de los Andes to ensure the supply of food, cleaning supplies, procedures before public service providers, among others, as well as an effective follow-up with the Ministry Public Prosecutor and the Police for compliance with the indicated household insulation, ”the province said in a statement.
According to the government of Neuquén, it analyzes some type of economic assistance for families with household restrictions since for a month and a half they will not be able to go to their jobs.
The authorities also announced that the celebrations will not be suspended for the 122nd anniversary of San Martín de los Andes, which takes place throughout February. In the next few days there will be official events, sports and musical activities that will summon thousands of people in that locality.
The last outbreak of hantavirus developed in the summer of 2019 in Epuyén, Chubut, leaving a balance of 11 deaths and 34 infections. About 100 people had to remain in their homes until the absence of symptoms was confirmed. Epuyén, who basically lives from tourism, endured an economic crisis in the face of the total fall in visitors. This year the area regained normalcy and its occupancy rates.
Bariloche Correspondent
ACE