In Venezuela, doctor flees after being accused of terrorism amid hemorrhagic fever outbreak.

AAAS Science ^ | 9/23/2014 | Lizzie Wade

[wtd]

Eleven days after news broke that an unknown disease had killed eight people in the city of Maracay, Venezuela, doctors have concluded that the deaths were caused by chikungunya, a mosquito-borne virus. Meanwhile, Ángel Sarmiento, the doctor who first announced the deaths, has fled the country after being accused of terrorism by President Nicolás Maduro.

[wtd]

Mysterious outbreak of hemorrhagic fever syndrome in Venezuela kills ten

Doctors have urged government authorities to declare a state of emergency in Aragua state; however they have received resistance from a surprising source.

The State Governor, Tareck El Aissami, has not only denied medical reports of the disease, but has accused the president of the aragua state Medical Association, Angel Sarmiento, of "creating anxiety."

More on Tarek Al-Aissami

[Sherman Logan]

I don’t think Chikungunya is normally classified as a hemorrhagic fever.

[wtd]

It isn’t. This is Venezuela...and a state Governor of the. Muslim persuasion placing heavy pressure on interpretations of the situation.

[webheart]

In before the We are all screwed.

[seeker41]

We have over 200 cases in Florida, it is not a hemorrhagic fever....yet.

[wtd]

In Venezuela, doctor flees after being accused of terrorism amid fever outbreak 23 September 2014

Eleven days after news broke that an unknown disease had killed eight people in the city of Maracay, Venezuela, doctors have concluded that the deaths were caused by chikungunya, a mosquito-borne virus. Meanwhile, Ángel Sarmiento, the doctor who first announced the deaths, has fled the country after being accused of terrorism by President Nicolás Maduro.

Although officials initially speculated that the deaths were caused by an unknown hemorrhagic fever, six of the eight original fatalities tested positive for chikungunya when samples were analyzed in nongovernmental labs, says Julio Castro, the health minister of the municipality of Sucre and a professor in the Institute of Tropical Medicine at the Central University of Venezuela (UCV). “We don’t think these deaths are due to an unknown or rare disease,” he told ScienceInsider, adding that “I have no doubt” that chikungunya is responsible.

After arriving in the Caribbean late last year, chikungunya has been sweeping the Americas. As of 19 September, the Pan-American Health Organization reported 729,178 suspected and 9537 confirmed cases in the region. There is no vaccine or cure for the disease, which is similar to dengue fever and causes joint pain. It is fatal in about one in 1000 cases.

Maracay’s cluster of nine fatalities, reported between 30 August and 15 September, has raised questions about exactly how many people are infected. The deadly cases are “the tip of the iceberg,” Castro believes. In a press conference on Monday, Castro and two other health professionals—Gustavo Villasmil, health minister of the state of Miranda, and Manuel Olivares, a doctor at UCV’s hospital—estimated that between 65,000 and 117,000 people in Venezuela are infected with chikungunya. They reached that figure by using World Health Organization standards for calculating the spread of epidemics. But it is dramatically higher than the official tallies released by Venezuela’s federal health ministry, which recognizes just 398 cases of chikungunya and three deaths.

Many infectious diseases, including malaria and dengue, are on the rise in Venezuela, where the public health system has been crippled by a lack of funds and medicine (including antifever drugs that can help treat the symptoms of chikungunya). Sarmiento’s comments about the deaths in Maracay appear to have been the straw that broke the camel’s back when it came to criticism of the government’s public health record, Villasmil says. Now facing prosecution, Sarmiento fled to an undisclosed location in Central America. Villasmil and Castro remain in Venezuela but have left their homes after participating in the press conference, as a precaution against retaliation.

Posted in Health, Latin America

********Note: Read the comments - fascinating!

no2msmBS • 9 days ago

Chikungunya? Early reports said epidemiologists ruled that out in the first eight cases... Another report said autopsy revealed multiple complications in victims:

hepatomegaly, strong steatosis, congestive spleen, pale kidneys, hemorrhagic enterocolitis, erosive pleuritis and petechiae in the upper limbs… (they didn't die from a fever). All had same symptoms [hemorrhagic fever] all died within 72 hours... seems they've got more of a problem if chikungunya now causes such a virulent form of hemorrhagic fever... (US too since it's now in Florida) The government was too quick to go after the doctors, they suppress information and I don't trust them at all...chikungunya? I don't know but I think not.

Kathy Stuart no2msmBS • 7 days ago

I do have to agree with you that the information that this Chikungunya does seem a bit specious as it was one of the first diseases that the medical spokesperson said had been ruled out. It is also, as far as I have read not known to cause the terrible symptoms from which these patients died. There is a Dengue varient that does cause hemorrhagic symptoms.

As for the US having a problem with Chikungunya it is all over the country, initially brought home by travelers and is now spreading through mosquitoes. There are at this time around 600 known cases in the US. Most so far imported but some locally acquired.

[null and void]

Totalitarian dictatorships always need someone else to blame and persecute.

Bring Out Your Dead

Post to me or FReep mail to be on/off the Bring Out Your Dead ping list.

The purpose of the “Bring Out Your Dead” ping list (formerly the “Ebola” ping list) is very early warning of emerging pandemics, as such it has a high false positive rate.

So far the false positive rate is 100%.

At some point we may well have a high mortality pandemic, and likely as not the “Bring Out Your Dead” threads will miss the beginning entirely.

*sigh* Such is life, and death...

[E. Pluribus Unum]

“In a time of universal deceit - telling the truth is a revolutionary act.” - George Orwell

[Smokin' Joe]

Ping…

A link to this thread has been posted on the Ebola Surveillance Thread

[HotHunt]

Venezuela has has become dramatically worse since Maduro took over after Chavez’s death. Not that Hugo was any Sharpie but Maduro is barely a dull pencil. Everything that goes wrong in the country, he immediately blames the US or the opposition. As is the case with all communists and socialists, he is never at fault for his stupid decisions. This guy was a former bus driver and is in no way qualified to run a country. Can’t even supply his people with toilet paper And now I see he is confiscating everyone’s guns to lower the violence and crime rate. Can’t the people see what’s coming?

What a loser.

[SunkenCiv]

> ...doctors have concluded that the deaths were caused by chikungunya, a mosquito-borne virus. Meanwhile, Ángel Sarmiento, the doctor who first announced the deaths, has fled the country after being accused of terrorism by President Nicolás Maduro.

[TexasRepublic]

“This guy was a former bus driver and is in no way qualified to run a country.”

That’s more practical work experience than Obama ever had.

[Alamo-Girl]

Thanks for the ping!

[Smokin' Joe]

You’re Welcome, Alamo-Girl!

[knak]

If it’s fatal in 1 out of 1000 cases, they sure must have some bad luck over there.