Health surveillance services in São Paulo continue to investigate the causes of death of Douglas Costa, 42, and his girlfriend, dentist Mariana Giordano, last Thursday (8). The two deaths, resulting from sudden and simultaneous symptoms, made the case a mystery for epidemiologists in SP and Minas Gerais.
What were the symptoms presented by the couple?
According to family members and medical teams who provided the couple with the first care, the two had a strong fever and for no apparent reason, body aches and red spots on the body.
Douglas Costa, who was a businessman and racing driver for the C300 Cup pilot – organized by AMG Cup Brasil -, was admitted to a private hospital, but did not resist. Mariana, who was from São Paulo, received care at a capital health unit, but also had complications and died.
The speed of the evolution of symptoms and death make it difficult to define the couple’s cause of death. On Monday (12), the city of Jundiaí will send biological samples taken from Douglas’s autopsy to the Instituto Adolfo Lutz to define the diagnosis.
Where did the couple go?
Health surveillance confirmed reports that the couple had been in the rural area of Campinas before June 3rd and in Monte Verde between the 3rd and 4th of this month.
Symptoms can lead to diagnoses such as dengue, leptospirosis or Rocky Mountain spotted fever. The Health Secretariat of Camanducaia, where the Monte Verde district is located, said that an eventual transmission of spotted fever in the municipality of Minas Gerais is “unlikely”, since there have been no cases of the disease nor the presence of the disease vector for more than 20 years in the region. region.
In addition, the symptoms began on June 3, when the couple had just arrived in the municipality, and as Rocky Mountain spotted fever has an incubation period of 2 to 14 days, if this diagnosis is confirmed, transmission would have occurred earlier.
What is Spotted Fever?
Rocky Mountain spotted fever is a disease transmitted by the star tick, which is not the common tick found in dogs, for example. The species can be found in large animals, such as oxen and horses, in addition to capybaras.
Transmission occurs from the infected tick to the person, with no person-to-person transmission, as explained by the Ministry of Health.
The disease is characterized by a sudden set of symptoms, such as high fever, body pain and red spots all over the body and also on the palms of the hands and soles of the feet. The disease is curable as long as antibiotics are applied in the first days of symptoms, and delay in diagnosis can cause serious complications.
