nine people in totalincluding eight members of the nursing staff of the same private clinic, were affected by this respiratory pathology.
Article written by
Posted
Update
Reading time : 1 min.
A third person died from a “pneumonia of unknown origin”apparently located in a clinic in Tucuman (Argentina), local health authorities announced on Thursday, September 1.
Nine people in total, including eight members of the nursing staff of the same private clinic, were affected by this respiratory pathology. Three of them have died since Monday, provincial health minister Luis Medina Ruiz told reporters.
Several tests are underway to determine the origin of the disease. Covid-19, influenza, type A and B influenza, or hantavirus (virus transmitted by rodents) have already been ruled out, according to the minister. Samples were sent to the Argentine Reference Laboratory, the Malbran Institute in Buenos Aires.
The third victim is “a 70-year-old patient, who was hospitalized” for surgery in the same clinic where the other cases were detected among the nursing staff. According to Luis Medina Ruiz, she could be “in principle the ‘zero patient’, but it is on the examination”.
On Wednesday, the minister described common patient symptoms: “a severe respiratory state with bilateral pneumonia, and imaging very similar to Covid, but this has been ruled out”.
The Minister of Health of Tucuman considered that the origin of the pathology could be an infectious agent, “toxic, environmental causes” were not excluded. Analyzes are also underway on water and air conditioning systems.