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Published Date: 2013-12-11 09:43:10
Subject: PRO/AH/EDR> Plague - Peru: (LL) pneumonic, fatality
Archive Number: 20131211.2104941
PLAGUE - PERU: (LA LIBERTAD), PNEUMONIC, FATALITY
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A ProMED-mail post
ProMED-mail is a program of the
International Society for Infectious Diseases
Date: Tue 10 Dec 2013
Source: Diario16 [in Spanish, mach. transl., edited]
The Regional Health Management reported Tuesday, 10 Dec 2013, the 1st victim in 2013 of pneumonic plague in the La Libertad region. It is a 17-year-old, according to the regional manager of health, Jose Evangelista. The regional official did not name the victim, although it was known that he lived with his family in the village of Mocan, located in the district of Casa Grande, in the province of Ascope.
As reported by Evangelista, before entering Trujillo Regional Teaching Hospital, where the victim died, he spent several hours in the home of relatives in the village El Milagro in Huanchaco district center. In the area, said the regional manager of health, would have been about 150 families. Therefore, a health brigade came to the area to conduct a campaign to prevent the plague bacteria from spreading.
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ProMED-mail
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[_Yersinia pestis_ is endemic in parts of Peru, especially the La Libertad region in the provinces of Trujillo and Ascope. In 2010, the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) reported at least 27 cases in an outbreak and 4 deaths.
Most cases are due to bubonic plague following the bite of an infected rodent flea causing a swollen and very tender lymph gland. The swollen gland is called a "bubo." Bubonic plague should be suspected when a person develops a swollen gland, fever, chills, headache, and extreme exhaustion, and has a history of possible exposure to infected rodents, rabbits, or fleas. A person usually becomes ill with bubonic plague 2 to 6 days after being bitten.
When bubonic plague is left untreated, plague bacteria invade the bloodstream. As the plague bacteria multiply in the bloodstream, they spread rapidly throughout the body and cause a severe and often fatal condition. Infection of the lungs with the plague bacterium causes the pneumonic form of plague, a severe respiratory illness. The infected person may experience high fever, chills, cough, and breathing difficulty and may expel bloody sputum. If plague patients are not given specific antibiotic therapy, the disease can progress rapidly to death. At this stage, as appears to have happened in this case, person-to-person spread can occur, causing other cases of "primary" plague pneumonia. - Mod.LL
A HealthMap/ProMED-mail map can be accessed at: http://healthmap.org/r/9u0L.]
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This area has a history of plague outbreaks, such as this one from 2010:
Subject: PRO/AH/EDR> Plague - Peru: (LL) pneumonic, fatality
Archive Number: 20131211.2104941
PLAGUE - PERU: (LA LIBERTAD), PNEUMONIC, FATALITY
*************************************************
A ProMED-mail post
ProMED-mail is a program of the
International Society for Infectious Diseases
Date: Tue 10 Dec 2013
Source: Diario16 [in Spanish, mach. transl., edited]
The Regional Health Management reported Tuesday, 10 Dec 2013, the 1st victim in 2013 of pneumonic plague in the La Libertad region. It is a 17-year-old, according to the regional manager of health, Jose Evangelista. The regional official did not name the victim, although it was known that he lived with his family in the village of Mocan, located in the district of Casa Grande, in the province of Ascope.
As reported by Evangelista, before entering Trujillo Regional Teaching Hospital, where the victim died, he spent several hours in the home of relatives in the village El Milagro in Huanchaco district center. In the area, said the regional manager of health, would have been about 150 families. Therefore, a health brigade came to the area to conduct a campaign to prevent the plague bacteria from spreading.
--
Communicated by:
ProMED-mail
<promed@promedmail.org>
[_Yersinia pestis_ is endemic in parts of Peru, especially the La Libertad region in the provinces of Trujillo and Ascope. In 2010, the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) reported at least 27 cases in an outbreak and 4 deaths.
Most cases are due to bubonic plague following the bite of an infected rodent flea causing a swollen and very tender lymph gland. The swollen gland is called a "bubo." Bubonic plague should be suspected when a person develops a swollen gland, fever, chills, headache, and extreme exhaustion, and has a history of possible exposure to infected rodents, rabbits, or fleas. A person usually becomes ill with bubonic plague 2 to 6 days after being bitten.
When bubonic plague is left untreated, plague bacteria invade the bloodstream. As the plague bacteria multiply in the bloodstream, they spread rapidly throughout the body and cause a severe and often fatal condition. Infection of the lungs with the plague bacterium causes the pneumonic form of plague, a severe respiratory illness. The infected person may experience high fever, chills, cough, and breathing difficulty and may expel bloody sputum. If plague patients are not given specific antibiotic therapy, the disease can progress rapidly to death. At this stage, as appears to have happened in this case, person-to-person spread can occur, causing other cases of "primary" plague pneumonia. - Mod.LL
A HealthMap/ProMED-mail map can be accessed at: http://healthmap.org/r/9u0L.]
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This area has a history of plague outbreaks, such as this one from 2010:
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