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At a tropical medicine conference, CDC scientists shared their findings on human-to-human transmission of an enigmatic virus, the Chapare virus. In a Bolivian hospital, he killed three people suffering from Ebola-like symptoms.
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[EN VIDÉO] What are the differences between bacteria and viruses? They are microbes. They are very small and we get them confused quite easily. However, bacteria and viruses are two very different things. And in order to effectively fight against those who cause the disease, it is better to clearly identify them.
In a hospital in La Paz in Bolivia, several people were treated for a temperature hemorrhagic. It is not Ebola disease who torments these patients, but another virus what causes symptoms similar: Chapare virus. Five people in contact with these patients were also infected, including a medical intern, a paramedic and a hospital gastroenterologist. Two of them died from this infection.
It happened in 2019 and is the first description of human-to-human transmission of the Chapare virus. This case was the subject of a presentation by scientists of Center for Disease Prevention and Control (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) during the last congress ofAmerican Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, held right now. Scientists are particularly concerned about the spread of this still very poorly described virus.
Return of a virus observed in 2004
The first confirmed case of infection to the Chapare virus dates back to 2004 in a community in the province of Chapare, from which it takes its name, east of La Paz. It belongs to the genus Arenavirus, which groups viruses ARN, originally enveloped in hemorrhagic fevers, such as Lhasa fever. Ebola virus does not belong to this genus, it is a Ebola virus from the family of Filoviridae. Diseases caused by Arenavirus they are sometimes called New World fevers. Infected patients suffered from fever, pains abdominal pain, vomiting and bleeding gums. There is no specific treatment.
Chapare virus is transmitted by biological fluids (blood, urine, saliva, semen) contaminated. The medical intern appears to have been contaminated by aspirating saliva from an infected patient. The presence of the virus’s RNA in the sperm of an infected patient who survived another 168 days after infection raises the question of sexual transmission. All avenues of transmission of the Chapare virus still remain foggy.
An emerging infectious disease under surveillance
Caitlin Cossaboom, a CDC epidemiologist, conducted research to identify the natural reservoir of the Chapare virus. His genome he was isolated from the little one rodents, pygmy paddy rats (genus Oligoryzomys). They were found near the place of life of the first infected patient during the outbreak of 2019. This does not allow us to be sure that humans have been infected by contact with these animals, because the presence of the virus genome does not testify to its ability to be contagious, but it is a valuable clue.
Scientists are now working on tests of diagnosticas the disease is poorly understood, it can easily be confused with others. Since this 2019 case, other Chapare virus infections have been reported, including one involving a child. Scientists are closely following the evolution of this emerging infectious disease.
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