Mysterious pneumonia kills 3, infects 9 in Argentina

Fears of a new deadly viral outbreak have begun to spread after three people died in Argentina this week from a mysterious case of pneumonia.

Another six people have also been infected with a “pneumonia of unknown origin,” Argentine health officials reported.

Of the nine people who have been infected, eight were health workers and one was an ICU patient being treated at a private clinic in Tucumán — a small region 800 miles northwest of the capital Buenos Aires.

Health officials have expressed their mounting concerns after tests for 30 infections including COVID, flu and influenza types A and B came back negative, Tucumán health minister Luis Medina Ruiz confirmed to local news outlets Wednesday.

“What these patients have in common is the severe respiratory condition with bilateral pneumonia and compromise in [Z-ray] images very similar to COVID, but that is ruled out,” Ruiz said.

Meanwhile, the European Centre for Disease Control’s epidemic intelligence team has been monitoring the cases since Tuesday and scientists at the World Health Organization have also begun tracking the situation.