Health Alerts

A Jan 4 WHO Disease Outbreak News article detailed an increase in hantavirus cases in the province of Los Santos, situated on the Azuero Peninsula and approx. 300kms SW of Panama City. All but four of the 103 infections notified last year occurred in the province which is best known for the annual Las Tablas Carnival celebrations. The WHO states that the increase ‘could be related to changes in the abundance and distribution of rodent species, as well as strengthened surveillance and laboratory capacity at the provincial level’. World Youth Day 2019 is to take place in Panama City from Jan 22-27.  A localised outbreak of hantavirus has struck in the western Argentinian town of Epuyén, approx. 160 kms south of San Carlos de Bariloche, killing six of the 19 infected. Cases of Andean hantavirus peak in this southern endemic region during the summer months. Read more