Revista médica de Chile
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Revista médica de Chile · Jul 2000
[Prevalence of anti-hantavirus antibodies in health care personnel in direct contact with patients with hantavirus pulmonary syndrome in Temuco, Chile 1997 to 1999].
An outbreak of Hantavirus Cardiopulmonary Syndrome (HVCS) caused by the Andes virus, affected Chile since 1995. Antibodies to Hantavirus in health care workers who had cared patients with HVCS in Coybaique, Argentinean reports and familial clustering of bantaviral illness, raised the possibility of person to person transmission. Familial clustering could occur secondary to a similar exposure to a common infected environment of more than one member of the family. Moreover, the prevalence of antibodies in health care workers in Coyhaique does not differ from the prevalence in general population in that region. ⋯ These results are supporting evidence against person to person transmission of the Andes virus.