Viral infections can be harmless - or life-threatening, depending on the virus.
The Chapare virus is similar to the Ebola virus - cases have been reported in the following region.
Some viruses usually only affect animals.
These include, for example, the H5N1 influenza A virus, which causes bird flu.
This is particularly dangerous for chicken birds such as turkeys and pheasants.
But there are also viruses that can spread from animals to humans
.
The most prominent representative is currently Sars-CoV-2, the causative agent of Covid-19.
But there are far more examples of zoonoses * - infectious diseases that can be transmitted from person to animal and from animal to person.
These include the hemorrhagic fever caused by the chapare virus, which is associated with dangerous bleeding.
On November 16, 2020, the U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced that the potentially deadly animal virus can spread not only from animal to person, but also from person to person.
As the Tropical Institute further reported, the following symptoms speak for infection with the Chapare virus
:
fever
stomach pain
Vomit
Bleeding gums
skin rash
Eye pain
Ebola-like disease: Three people died of chapare infection in 2019
The first infection with the pathogen occurred in 2004 in the Bolivian province of Chapare.
No cases have been reported for years, but research now published shows at least five chapare virus infections in 2019.
Three of the patients died from Ebola-like disease
.
The virus spread from person to person through contact with body fluids and has so far only occurred in a region near the Bolivian capital La Paz, as the Tropical Institute reported.
As the US health authority CDC informs, an infection with the Chapare virus can lead to so-called hemorrhagic fever.
The virus is transmitted through direct contact with infected rodents or through indirect contact with their urine and faeces.
In the case of infections reported in 2019, three patients were healthcare workers.
It can be assumed that they became infected through contact with body fluids such as blood or urine from infected patients
.
In 2020 there were no known chapare infections in humans.
According to the Gentside portal, the likelihood that the virus could spread worldwide is very low.
It is not heat-resistant and the use of disinfectants would kill it quickly.
(jg) * Merkur.de belongs to the Germany-wide Ippen-Digital editorial network
.
More sources: https://www.livescience.com/chapare-virus-human-transmission.htm;
https://www.gentside.de/gesundheit/neues-todliches-virus-es-ahnelt-ebola-und-wird-von-mensch-zu-mensch-ubendung_art20396.html
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