COVID-22, Anyone?

Are We Seeing The Next Candidate For Pandemic Panic Emerge In Argentina?

Forewarned is forearmed, they say. For that reason, we should pay attention whenever there is a report of a potentially new infectious respiratory pathogen on the loose.

Yesterday from Argentina we have reports of an unusual pneumonia which so far has sickened six and killed three (not a comforting mortality rate by any measure!)¹.

Approximately eight days ago, the Ministry of Health of Tucumán began to investigate an infectious outbreak in the Luz Médica sanatorium , which operates in the provincial capital, which has already claimed the life of a doctor and a nurse from the institution, while three other people They remain hospitalized in serious condition and only one of those infected is progressing favorably. The establishment was isolated and new patients are not allowed to enter. The Tucumán health authorities confirmed to LA NACION that they have not yet been able to determine the origin of the infections, but they did rule out that it is influenza or Covid. At least no more cases were recorded.

Note that the infections themselves actually were recorded more than a week ago—8 days as of the first report in La Nacion and 10 days as of this writing.

According to The Telegraph, five of the six patients are healthcare workers,

Authorities are concerned about the deadly outbreak because the usual suspects – including Covid, influenza and hantavirus – have been ruled out. Five of the six affected, and both of those who so far died, are also health care workers, suggesting an infectious agent may be involved. 

In addition to the healthcare workers who passed, The Independent reports that a 70 year old patient also died from the mystery ailment².

At a press conference on Thursday, Luis Medina Ruiz, the minister of public health of the Tucumán province, reported the death of a 70-year-old patient and the identification of three employees of the medical facility with symptoms.

“What these patients have in common is the severe respiratory condition with bilateral pneumonia and compromise in images [x-ray] very similar to Covid, but that is ruled out,” Dr Ruiz said on Wednesday.

Very little is known about the pneumonia at this time, based on current reporting. Both Argentine and British sources state that COVID (and coronavirus more broadly), influenza, and hantavirus have been specifically ruled out through testing.

According to the Ministry of Public Health in Argentina’s Tucoman Province, no new cases have been reported since August 22.

The registered cases correspond to five health workers and a patient from the intensive care unit of a private sanatorium in San Miguel de Tucumán who started symptoms between the 18th and 22nd of this month. The six cases presented bilateral pneumonia, two of them died, three are hospitalized and the remaining one is in good health in home isolation. Since August 22, no new cases have been detected.

However, British media indicates that a total of 9 patients have been infected, and the New York Post reports that the dates on which the infections of the last three patients were detected is unclear at this time.

The first six patients started exhibiting symptoms between Aug. 18 and 22. Officials have not said when the three most recently infected people began exhibiting symptoms but noted that two are receiving clinical treatment and one is being monitored at home.

Absent new cases being reported, there is no indication of a wider outbreak at this time. Given that the ten days since August 22 is well outside the established incubation periods for influenza, respiratory syncitial virus, and other common infectious respiratory pathogens³, plus the known incubation periods for Omicron and other strains of SARS-CoV-2 virus⁴, although not beyond the recorded incubation periods for hantavirus⁵, it seems unlikely at this juncture that there will be a fresh outbreak of infectious respiratory disease.

Which makes Pandemic Panic by the corporate media by far the greater threat, rather than this mystery pathogen.

Always remember to keep abreast of the facts—do not be swayed by narrative alone.

1. Translation from the Spanish by Google Translate

2. The original Argentine report in La Nacion gave the deceased patient’s age as 68.

3. Lessler, Justin et al. “Incubation periods of acute respiratory viral infections: a systematic review.” The Lancet. Infectious diseases vol. 9,5 (2009): 291-300. doi:10.1016/S1473-3099(09)70069-6

4. Wu, Yu et al. “Incubation Period of COVID-19 Caused by Unique SARS-CoV-2 Strains: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis.” JAMA network open vol. 5,8 e2228008. 1 Aug. 2022, doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2022.28008

5. Coelho, Rocío M et al. “Hantavirus Pulmonary Syndrome in a COVID-19 Patient, Argentina, 2020.” Emerging infectious diseases vol. 28,4 (2022): 876-878. doi:10.3201/eid2804.211837