The World Health Organization is monitoring a cluster of 10 cases of pneumonia of unknown cause in an outbreak in Argentina that has so far included three deaths.
The cases are linked to a single private clinic in the city of San Miguel de Tucumán, located in the northwest of the country, according to the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), the regional office of the WHO.
An initial report on Tuesday included five health workers and one patient who was treated in the clinic’s intensive care ward, whose symptoms appeared from August 18 to 22.
On Thursday, local health officials reported three more cases, bringing the total to nine, including three deaths. The three people who died had other health conditions.
On Friday, Argentina reported an additional case.
Symptoms have included fever, muscle and abdominal pain, and shortness of breath. Several patients had pneumonia in both lungs.
Tests for known respiratory viruses and other viral, bacterial and fungal agents were negative, PAHO said. Biological samples were sent to the National Administration of Laboratories and Health Institutes of Argentina for additional tests, which will include an analysis of the presence of toxins.
Dr. Michael Osterholm, an infectious disease expert at the University of Minnesota, said that since the lungs are badly affected, the cause is likely to be something the patients inhaled.
He first suspected Legionnaires’ disease, which is caused by inhaling water droplets containing Legionella bacteria, but tests ruled that out.
PAHO and WHO are monitoring the outbreak and assisting local health officials with the investigation.
Osterholm said “mysterious illnesses” sometimes occur, and most of the time they can be explained by some local outbreak that doesn’t have pandemic implications.
Osterholm said he expects more definitive information from Argentine health officials in the next five to seven days.
.
