Ebola-like virus, which causes massive bleeding, passes from man to man after the epidemic in Bolivia
Scientists have sounded the alarm on an Ebola-like virus from Bolivia that has spread from person to person, killing three in five confirmed patients.
The Chapare virus, transmitted by rodents, first appeared in 2004 in the Bolivian province from which it takes its name, about 370 miles east of the country’s capital, La Paz.
New research has shed light on the lethality of the disease and how it spread from patient zero.
Following a 2019 outbreak in the country, researchers found that although it comes from a different viral family than Ebola, it also causes hemorrhagic fever, which in turn can cause life-threatening organ failure and bleeding.
Currently, there is no treatment for Chapare other than intravenous hydration and supportive care. The virus causes fever, headaches, abdominal pain, rashes and bleeding gums, and is thought to result from contact with urine or rat feces.
Dr. Caitlin Cossaboom, an epidemiologist with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, presented the results of her research on a 2019 outbreak at the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene annual meeting on Monday.
A 65-year-old rice farmer was patient zero during the outbreak which then spread the disease to a 25-year-old doctor who treated him.
“The night before she died, she sucked saliva out of her mouth, and then she got sick nine days later,” Cossaboom explained.
The 48-year-old paramedic who transported the doctor to hospital was the next to be infected after performing CPR on her.
A gastroenterologist performed an endoscopy at the doctor’s and developed symptoms 14 days later. All cases resulted in exposure to bodily fluids of an infected person.
Patient zero, doctor and gastroenterologist all died from the Chapare virus, while the paramedic and another infected person survived.
The pygmy rice rat and the small-eared pygmy rice rat were found to be the main carriers of the pathogen. They live in Bolivia and several neighboring countries.
Scientists now fear the virus has been circulating in the country for years, with patients wrongly diagnosed with dengue, a mosquito-borne virus that cannot be passed from person to person, unlike Chapare.
The good news is that arenaviruses, such as Chapare, are vulnerable to both heat and disinfectants, which means global spread is extremely unlikely.
