5 human deaths from equine encephalitis virus in Argentina amid efforts to contain outbreak

Xinhua
Mon, 29 Jan 2024 11:44 UTC

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Mosquito-borne illnesses like West Nile virus, dengue fever and Eastern equine encephalitis are on the rise during rainy season when these insects breed. Mosquito-borne illnesses like West Nile virus, dengue fever and Eastern equine encephalitis are on the rise during rainy season when these insects breed.

Argentina's Health Ministry on Sunday reported five people have died from Western Equine Encephalitis virus amid 39 cases of infection registered in five of the South American country's 24 provinces.

Cases have been concentrated mainly in the central region of the country, with 38 of the 39 infections registered in the provinces of Buenos Aires, Santa Fe, Entre Rios and Cordoba, and one case in the northern province of Santiago del Estero.

All of the cases required hospitalization and patients were on average 55 years old, with the oldest aged 81 and the youngest aged nine months, the ministry said.

The virus is transmitted mainly in rural areas through the bite of infected mosquitoes.

In humans, most cases are asymptomatic or present mild symptoms such as fever, fatigue, muscle pain and general malaise.

Comment: WEE first reappeared in the news after Argentina detected it in a few horses, and quarantine measures were enforced in an attempt to prevent its spread. However, after just one human infection was reported a few months ago, 5 people are now dead.

Whilst it's clear the establishment is keen to foment hysteria around all kinds of viruses and diseases, one does wonder what impact hundreds of millions of people injected with experimental, immune-compromising injections will have on viral outbreaks such as this.

Bird flu is another zoonotic virus that has been reported, increasingly, over the past few years; the last year in particular, with tens of millions of birds, across the planet, culled as a result. And, despite the questionable mass culls, harsh quarantine measures, and bird flu vaccine program, spread does not appear to have slowed much; and more recently it was revealed that an outbreak occurred on a fully vaccinated duck farm in France.