The risk for Portugal remains very low, so there are no preventive measures to be implemented at a national level for the population, notes the DGS. A suspected case is “any person who has shared or visited a form of transportation where there has been a confirmed or probable case of infection.
This Monday, the Directorate-General for Health published guidelines for the management of possible suspected cases of the outbreak and indicated that the risk in Portugal “remains very low”, without the need to implement preventive measures.
“This Guidance outlines the measures to be adopted by professionals in the Portuguese health system to manage possible contacts within the scope of the recent outbreak, in the eventual possibility of individuals who were contacts of cases in relation to this outbreak entering Portugal”, explained the organization in its note on the website.
The DGS also indicated in the note that does not exist in Portugal any change in the risk assessment. “THE risk for Portugal remains very lowtherefore there are no preventive measures to be implemented at a national level for the population”, he indicated.
According to published guidance, a suspected case is “anyone who has shared or visited a means of transport (e.g. boat or plane) where there has been a confirmed or probable case of hantavirus (ANDV) infection.”
It is also a suspected case.”anyone who has been in contacto with a passenger or crew member of the MV Hondius” and have an acute fever or history of fever and one of the following symptoms: muscle pain, chills, headache, gastrointestinal symptoms (e.g., nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, abdominal pain) or respiratory symptoms (e.g., cough, shortness of breath, chest pain, difficulty breathing).
One probable case is “a person with signs and symptoms (as referred to in the suspected case) and a known epidemiological link with a confirmed or probable case of Andes hantavirus infection”
Already one confirmed case is “a suspected or probable case with detection of ANDV nucleic acids by RT-PCR in biological sample or serological tests or isolation of Andes hantavirus from a biological sample.”
The DGS defines it as a ‘contact‘ a “person who has been exposed to a confirmed or probable case of Andes hantavirus in a period of transmissibility (since two days before the appearance of signs and symptoms until the absence of symptoms) through interactions involving exposure to respiratory secretions, saliva, blood or other body fluids”.
The DGS guidance, carried out in accordance with the recommendations of the World Health Organization (WHO) and the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), also states that INEM must be activated to “guarantee the transportation of the suspected case from the location where it is to the reference hospital”.
Os reference hospitals are the Local Health Unit (ULS) São José (Curry Cabral hospital for adult patients and Dona Estefânia hospital for pediatric patients) and the ULS São João (adult and pediatric patients).
They have been confirmed so far by the WHO and the ECDC seven cases of infection with hantavirus in people who traveled on the cruise “MV Hondius”, which left southern Argentina in early April. Three people died and there are still other suspected or probable cases.
About hantavirus transmitted from infected rodents. The variant detected in the packet, the Andes hantavirus, is rare and can be transmitted from person to person. Symptoms of the infection are initially flu-likesuch as coughing, fatigue or headaches and muscle pain.
The WHO has assured that the risk of this outbreak for the general population is low.
