Written By: Satata Karmakar | Updated : November 19, 2020 9:13 AM IST
Rare Chapare virus found in Bolivia can 'spread from person to person'.
Alert! scientists have discovered another deadly virus in Bolivia that can spread from one human to another.
A recent report has revealed that researchers with the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have discovered human-to-human transmission of a rare virus in Bolivia belonging to a family of viruses that can cause hemorrhagic fevers, such as Ebola.
The news comes amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, and a race against time to procure a safe and viable vaccine against the disease which has upturned lives around the world.
The virus named Chapare virus, which was given the name after the region where it was first observed was discovered due to ongoing efforts of scientists around the globe to avert future pandemics like COVID-19, which has crippled the world and infected millions. The causes a hemorrhagic fever similar to Ebola.
According to the media reports, one small outbreak of the virus had previously been registered in 2004. This was in the Chapare region, located east of La Paz in Bolivia. But now scientists have noted that the infected person has transmitted the disease to three healthcare workers in La Paz, out of which one died.
Speaking to media, CDC epidemiologist Caitlin Cossaboom said that it was discovered that a young medical resident, an ambulance medic, and a gastroenterologist all contracted the virus after encounters with infected patients.
"Two of the healthcare workers later died. We now believe many bodily fluids can potentially carry the virus," she said, at the annual meeting of the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene (ASTMH), where the findings were presented. She also added that based on the primary findings, the virus is believed to be carried by rats, who in turn may have passed it on to humans.
The Chapare virus named after the region where it was first discovered, belongs to the arenavirus family. Arenaviruses are extremely infectious and usually spread to people through direct contact with infected rats/ rodents or indirectly through the urine or feces of an infected rat/rodent.
According to the reports, the virus can also transfer from the saliva droppings of infected rats/rodents as well.
Now, the question comes - how does it transmit from human to human? Let's understand it so that you take proper precautions and stop the transmission of the virus from becoming another pandemic in the future.
This virus is transmitted through the body fluids of the infected person. A Chapare virus-infected person can spread the illness to other people through body fluids. When a fit person comes in contact with anything that has the body fluids of the infected person, he/she can get infected with the virus too.
According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), once the virus enters a human body, the infected person may experience symptoms such as fever, abdominal pain, headache, diarrhea, stomach pain, bleeding gums, vomiting, skin rashes, and chronic pain behind the eyes.
Stressing that since this virus can spread from human-to-human, it can become a future pandemic, and thus studying the virus has become very important for the health experts at CDC.
"We isolated the virus, and we were expecting to find a more common disease, but the sequence data pointed to Chapare virus," Maria Maria Morales-Betoulle, a pathologist at the CDC quoted as saying.
There is currently no treatment for this virus. Although, everyone should follow a healthy lifestyle with proper caution so that the body can develop its own immunity against such foreign viruses.
