Malaria and Hantavirus Pulmonary Syndrome in Gold Mining in the Amazon Region, Brazil

• Main Authors: Ana Cláudia Pereira Terças-Trettel, Elaine Cristina de Oliveira, Cor Jesus Fernandes Fontes, Alba Valéria Gomes de Melo, Renata Carvalho de Oliveira, Alexandro Guterres, Jorlan Fernandes, Raphael Gomes da Silva, Marina Atanaka, Mariano Martinez Espinosa, Elba Regina Sampaio de Lemos
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2019-05-01
• Series: International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
• Subjects: malaria; hantavirus pulmonary syndrome; infectious diseases epidemiology; differential diagnosis
• Online Access: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/16/10/1852

People living in mining regions are exposed to numerous biological agents by several specific types of transmission mechanisms. This study is designed to describe fatal hantavirus pulmonary syndrome (HPS) cases confirmed by serology and molecular analysis, where a seroprevalence survey was conducted in the gold mining regions of the state of Mato Grosso, in the official Amazon region, Brazil. Two fatal cases of HPS were confirmed in a mining area in the Legal Amazon, where malaria is one of the most important public health problems. A molecular analysis detected the presence of the genome of the Castelo dos Sonhos virus. Out of the 112 blood samples analyzed, five were positive for <i>Plasmodium</i> infection (four <i>P. falciparum</i> and one <i>P. vivax</i>), and four were seropositive for hantavirus, showing a seroprevalence of 3.57%. One of the four miners who was seroreactive for hantavirus concomitantly had <i>P. falciparum</i> infection, which was confirmed by thick blood smear. This manuscript highlights the importance of considering hantavirus pulmonary syndrome as a diagnostic possibility in febrile infection associated with pulmonary manifestations in mining areas where malaria cases are often identified.