Tests carried out on a 28-year-old man who died on October 19 in Canoinhas, Planalto Norte of Santa Catarina, confirmed that he had hantavirus. The cause was being investigated after the patient showed suspicious symptoms of leptospirosis and hantavirus, prompting alarm among authorities as floods hit the city.

The level of the Canoinhas River has risen due to heavy rains – Photo: Canoinhas City Hall/Reproduction/ND

The information was confirmed by the Canoinhas Department of Health this Thursday (26). According to Secretary of State Francieli da Costa Colla, the secretariat is still awaiting the results of tests for leptospirosis. “It’s possible to get both diseases,” he says.

According to the mayor’s office, in the state of Santa Catarina the hantavirus has a high mortality rate, about 60%. Because it is a serious, acute infectious disease, it can cause death within 72 hours.

Both hantavirus and leptospirosis are transmitted through the urine, feces and saliva of wild rodents and are accompanied by fever, cough, body aches, diarrhea, headache, vomiting and other symptoms.

Hantavirus risk increases due to floods

The boy died in a Santa Cruz hospital after flooding in the city caused by heavy rains that hit the region. Canoinhas was one of the towns hit by heavy rains on the northern plateau of Santa Catarina, leaving hundreds of families homeless and homeless.

Due to the floods, the risk of leptospirosis, hantavirus and other diseases transmitted through contaminated water has raised alarm among authorities.