Severe respiratory condition, pneumonia on each lung: this is what six Argentinian patients from the province of Tucuman, Argentina said. Two have already died, the number of cases has not changed since August 22. What is going on ? An AFP dispatch gives the first elements of an answer.
Everything led to believe that they had contracted Covid-19but the results always come back negatives. Ditto for influenza, influenza A and B, hantaviruses and 25 other pathologies for which patients have been screened. If the authorities are leaning towards an infection, they are also interested in potential environmental causes, in particular exposure to a toxic product.
Exposure to an infectious agent?
The symptoms appeared between August 18 and 22, in people who were all in the same place, in a private clinic. Tests are being carried out on the side water and air conditioning, which could have spread the infectious agent.
If the origin of the pneumonia has not yet been found, the doctors note that it has not been transmitted to contact cases and that a priori, there are no new patients. So it could be a restricted event. Authorities said the situation was under control.
let’s remember that pneumonia is a serious respiratory disease, which is manifested by inflammation of the lung tissue: it is responsible for millions of deaths each year, including 1.8 million children under the age of 5 . When diagnosed early, however, its management is simple and the disease treats well. Originally, an infection by germs: bacteria, viruses, fungi in some cases. “In pneumonia of bacterial origin, the most common germ is pneumococcus and it is also the one that kills the most”, had explained to Top Santé, Dr. Jean-François Bervar, pulmonologist at the Calmette hospital in Lille. The other germs frequently found are: legionella (including Legionella pneumophila), Haemophilus influenzae, mycoplasmas (Mycoplasma pneumoniae).Under certain circumstances, bacteria such as Staphylococcus aureus (Staphylococcus aureus), certain Gram-negative bacilli of the Enterobacteriaceae group (Klebsiella pneumoniae, Escherichia coli…), Pseudomonas aeruginosa. In the case of viral pneumonia, the viruses frequently found are adenoviruses, influenza viruses and rhinoviruses. You should know that 85% of deaths occur in people over 65 years of age. To learn more about pneumonia, consult our complete file: Pneumonia, symptoms, diagnosis and treatments.
