Two more people are hospitalized with hantavirus infection in Los Santos province of Panama, bringing the total cases to 62 this year, according to a La Prensa report (computer translated).
The report says the patients, 2 males, 53 and 56 years of age, are being treated at Joaquin Pablo Franco Sayas Hospital, in Las Tablas city, with hantavirus pulmonary syndrome (HPS) in critical condition.
The Los Santos provincial regional Health Director, Nahir Cedeno says so far this year, 62 cases of hantavirus have been diagnosed, of which 47 per cent had the syndrome HPS and the rest had hantavirus fever. It is not reported as to how the men contracted the disease.
It is not specified which hantavirus is implicated in these cases; however, Los Santos province in Panama is endemic for Choclo hantavirus and is relatively common. The rodent host of Choclo virus is the pygmy rice rat, Oligoryzomys fulvescens.
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