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JOHANNESBURG — It is highly unlikely that the death of a South African man in Brazil was caused by a new type of arenavirus, the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) said yesterday.
“I think it is extremely unlikely. He has no risk factors,” said doctor Lucille Blumberg of the NICD.
A test for the new type of arenavirus that killed four people in South Africa earlier this year will be carried out to assure the public that there is no cause for concern, she added.
“You need a negative test to totally exclude it as a possibility, to remove it from people’s thoughts. That’s the only reason we’re doing it,” Blumberg said.
The results of the test, conducted at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta in the United States, will be available in the “next few days”, said Blumberg.
The man went for a shoulder operation at Johannesburg’s Morningside Medi-Clinic in October, the same hospital where some of the virus deaths had occurred.
“Although this man underwent a surgical procedure in the middle of October 2008 in this clinic, he did not have contact with any of the patients who had the arenavirus infection,” said Blumberg.
“In addition, the time from any possible exposure to the virus to the development of symptoms of the illness would be less than 21 days, and the time from his admission there to development of his current illness is in excess of this period.”
Arenaviruses are spread by close contact with blood and body fluids and not casual contact, added Blumberg.
Foreign news agencies reported on Wednesday that the 53-year-old man fell ill on November 25, two days after arriving in Brazil to attend conferences.
Agence France-Presse said the man died after displaying symptoms of fever, vomiting, blood in his urine and rashes.
Doctors in Brazil suspected he had contracted an arenavirus, the agency reported.
The virus’s first victim was Cecilia van Deventer (36), who was airlifted from Zambia to the Morningside Medi-Clinic on September 12 in a critical condition.
Once in South Africa she was treated for tickbite fever and other potential infections, but she died two days later.
On September 27, a Zambian paramedic who accompanied her to South Africa was admitted to the hospital with similar symptoms — he died at the clinic on October 2.
A third victim of the virus, a nurse from the clinic who attended Van Deventer, also died.
A fourth person, a contract cleaner at the hospital, Maria Mokubung (37), also died of the virus
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