It was malaria that caused the death of the 55-year-old entrepreneur who died in Veneto after returning from Congo .
The President of the Lazio Region Francesco Rocca anticipated it first, when asked about the investigations underway at the Spallanzani Institute to understand the origin of the disease. "Not all the tests have been completed yet, but the initial findings point to a case of malaria and not to unknown viruses. Obviously the tests need to be further investigated and further checks are underway."
Then the confirmation from Spallanzani himself: «The results on the blood samples have highlighted the presence of plasmodium falciparum, the agent responsible for malaria. The analyses have excluded the presence of other pathogenic agents and co-infecting viruses ».
Andrea Poloni , this is the name of the victim, had recently returned from a trip to Kinshasa with symptoms similar to Congo disease which, as also reported by the health authorities of the African country, is a serious form of malaria and not a new unknown virus.
From the initial information collected by Aulss2 Veneto, the Ministry of Health and the Istituto Superiore di Sanità (ISS) explained in a joint statement, " the patient would not have had any contact with healthcare personnel nor would he have ever gone to the hospital from the onset of symptoms until their worsening ." The only contact he had was being placed in isolation.
(Unioneonline/L)
