Mysterious outbreak: Covid-like pneumonia leaves three dead, six ill in Argentina. Read here

Two years back, the Covid-19 outbreak shocked the world when millions of people died due to it. Finally, the world is coming to terms with the virus and situation seems to be getting better in terms of tackling it after two years and emergence of numerous vaccines. However, in Argentina, the situation might not be the same. This week, there was a outbreak of mysterious kind of pneumonia in Argentina with unknown origins that have already resulted in three deaths. This was confirmed on Thursday by the local health officials of Argentina.

Health officials rule out Covid and Hantavirus scare

According to local sources, health experts in Argentina have ruled out Covid and Hantavirus as the reason behind this kind of pneumonia. At a press conference on Thursday, Luis Medina Ruiz, public health minister of the Tucumán province, said that a 70-year-old man succumbed to this unidentified virus. Three more health officials of the same medical facility have also shown the similar symptoms. So far, all these fatalities have been limited to the same clinic.


The medical center staff is being monitored, and the health officials are conducting tests to reach the root cause of this mysterious outbreak.



According to Argentina's health officials, the symptoms of this mysterious virus outbreak were first reported somewhere between August 18 and August 20. The first patient died on Monday, and two days later, i.e., on Wednesday, the second patient died of this mysterious pathogen in Argentina.

On Tuesday, a press briefing was held where Dr. Rogelio Calli, the director of the epidemiology of the provincial health system, said that this outbreak is similar to Hantavirus and Coronavirus, and can be due to bacterias or viruses. He further added that the health department had conducted tests for some strains of legionella, Hantavirus and Covid, but luckily all these tests have given negative results.

Authorities’ take on the situation

The medical authorities of Argentina said that to date, they continue to carry out the research protocol for all the available sputum cultures, blood cultures, urine cultures and all the bacteria and viruses in the province. The medical facility that first reported this mysterious outbreak has been temporality shut down, and the health authorities are thoroughly trying to study the origin of this outbreak. Air conditioners can also be a possible medium of spread of this disease. There's nothing confirmed as of now.


They also said that if any person has been in contact with anyone from the health center; both staff, and patients and have any symptoms, or, even without symptoms should call Argentina’s on-call services and report it to be on the safe side.

Dr. Ruiz said that the current situation in Argentina is difficult to predict as more than 11 days have passed since the first report. Moreover, as seen, every person has different response to this outbreak, and nothing can be done except to wait for the evolution. This is primarily because the health officials are still clueless about the origin of this outbreak. How can they tackle it so soon when they don’t know where to start?

Apart from Argentina’s health officials, the epidemic intelligence team of the European Centre for Disease Control and scientists at the World Health Organisation are also reportedly monitoring a similar situation of Covid in Argentina.

Who was the third woman to die of the outbreak of this disease in Argentina?
• The third woman was 70-year-old and was a patient at ICU of a private clinic.
• A few days ago, she was hospitalised for surgery for her gallbladder.
• For this, she was re-operated two times.
• Dr, Ruiz said that this could have led to an infectious pulmonary disease that took place.
• Also, the date of the woman’s infection and the onset of a similar situation of Covid in Argentina coincide, i.e., August 20.
• There is no clarity on what happened first.
• Although the same woman was initially said to be patient zero, studies are being carried out to deeply analyse the situation.


What did the doctors say about situation in Argentina?
• On Wednesday, Dr. Ruiz of the same health center said that all the patients are suffering from this unknown virus; although they have the same traits of Covid, the claims of the situation of Covid in Argentina are false.
• All the patients have a common symptom: a severe respiratory condition with bilateral pneumonia.
• All the patients are experiencing fever, body ache, vomiting, diarrhea, etc.
• Until now, nine people have been affected by this virus, and eight work in the same medical facility.
• The other patient is a person admitted to the ICU at Tucuman’s private clinic.