A mysterious form of pneumonia has emerged in Argentina, infecting ten people and killing three. Some fear the mysterious infection could be the source of the next Covid-like pandemic, though experts say it’s too early to be sure.
The mysterious disease was detected in the province of Tucumán, the South American nation, the most densely populated part of Argentina. The authorities are not sure what the origin of the disease is, but they have ruled out clear suspects such as covid, influenza and hantavirus.
Some fear that it might have jumped from animals to humans. Eight confirmed cases are among healthcare workers in the region who have also been infected, indicating it is contagious.
Dr. Davidson Hammer (pictured), an infectious disease expert at Boston University, told DailyMail.com that the current risk level for Americans is 0.1 out of 10.
While officials in Argentina are sounding the alarm about the unknown disease, many experts are not yet worried. Dr. Davidson Hammer, an infectious disease expert at Boston University, told DailyMail.com that the current risk level for Americans is 0.1 in 10.
Others say it’s too early to rule it out, but the outbreak is likely to ‘fade’ like many other mystery illnesses in the past.
Hammer says that in a pre-Covid world, many of these types of alerts would arise before experts realized that the disease in question was something they already knew about.
“From my experience over the last 20 years, there are regular alerts that come up about a mystery illness or mystery pneumonia and they’re in an area of the world where good diagnostic capability may not exist,” he explained.
“Then they find out that it’s a common thing once they do more extensive testing.”
However, there are some examples where the infection was new. He cites the 2002 SARS outbreak that began as an unknown disease in Guangdong, China.
Then there’s the mysterious illness that emerged in Wuhan, China, in late 2019 and ultimately erupted into the COVID-19 pandemic.
He says ruling out some common causes of pneumonia so quickly is “concerning” as it increases the chances that the virus is something new and potentially dangerous.
Overall, he says it’s too early for Americans to worry. He rated the current risk factor as ‘0.1’ on a scale of 10.
The mysterious pneumonia arose in the Argentine province of Tucumán, the densest of the regions of the South American nation.
The disease has been found in ten patients, eight of whom were healthcare workers. Three deaths have been confirmed as part of the outbreak (file photo)
Other experts told DailyMail.com that it is too early to make any kind of determination on this infection.
“I think it’s too early to know how public health concern this outbreak of pneumonia in Argentina is,” said Dr. William Petri, a professor of medicine at the University of Virginia.
“Our ability to identify the cause of pneumonia, using a combination of molecular tests and classical cultures, is much better, though not perfect, so uncertainty about the cause of the outbreak may continue for days or weeks to come.”
Dr. Amesh Adalja, an infectious disease expert at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland, told DailyMail.com, “More research is needed to understand what’s behind these pneumonia cases.” It is important that this outbreak is studied in detail and an ideological agent is found.
Professor Paul Hunter, from the University of East Anglia in England, told MailOnline: ‘These reports of unexplained pneumonia happen from time to time.
“And while most of these outbreaks eventually go away with or without a diagnosis, that’s not guaranteed, as we all know.
“The crucial thing is to get these samples further examined to try to determine which virus or bacteria is responsible.”
World Health Organization advisers have publicly endorsed theories that the outbreak could have been caused by a form of Legionella, a bacterium that grows in water systems.
The three deaths are between two doctors and a 70-year-old woman who had been admitted to the clinic in northern Argentina.
The first death was recorded on Monday, the second on Wednesday and the third on Thursday.
Health chiefs said the woman, who was in hospital for surgery, could be ‘patient zero’, but this hypothesis is still being investigated.
Of the six people receiving treatment, four were in serious condition in hospital and two in home isolation.
All other clinic staff were being monitored.
Symptoms linked to the illness so far include vomiting, high fever, diarrhea and body aches.
Luis Medina Ruiz, Minister of Health of Tucumán, told local media: ‘What these patients have in common is severe respiratory symptoms with bilateral pneumonia and involvement in [X-ray] images very similar to Covid, but that is ruled out.’
He said patients were screened for more than 30 bugs, including ‘Covid, cold, influenza type A and B’, all of which came back negative.
Samples have been sent to the National Administration of Laboratories and Health Institutes of Argentina for further analysis.
The hospital has been closed and patient contacts are being traced and isolated.
Officials are also investigating whether the spate of cases is the result of a bacterial outbreak, possibly due to air conditioning units or contaminated water.
The Health Ministry said the outbreak could stem from an infectious agent, but has not ruled out “toxic or environmental causes.”
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