A 48-year-old man from Mumbai has been hospitalized with a hemmorhagic fever. The patient was disoriented, had a high fever, had kidney and liver problems, and was bleeding in the brain. His platelet count was low (which is consistent with the indications of hemmorhagic fever that we discussed in class). Despite treatment, he is not recovering, and his prognosis does not look hopeful. The man's hemmorhagic fever occurred only days after three CCHF (an arbovirus in bunyaviridae) cases were found in Ahmedabad, a neighboring city.
The patient's tests for malaria, dengue, and leptospirosis were all negative, and further samples are being sent to the National Institute of Virology. The article states that the virus is most likely an arbovirus (perhaps CCHF) or an adenovirus. Meanwhile, the patient will be kept under 4th degree of isolation. The article is unclear about what this means specifically, but it seems to be analogous to Dr. Bob's explanation of the biosafety of diseases (with 4 being the highest concern level). To prevent infection of medical staff, treatment has been administered to hospital employees.
-Autumn
P.S. The article says the patient "has shown clinical symptoms of viral hemorrhagic fever". It seems like it should have said signs according to our definitions, but perhaps adding in the "clinical" before it changes the way "symptoms" is used?
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