“She was gardening, she cooked, she was even dancing festive evenings”: the first Quebec victim of a virus transmitted by mosquitoes was in good shape before being overwhelmed

The first Quebec victim of the Eastern East Encephalitis (EEE), a disease transmitted by mosquitoes, was healthy when it was contaminated and her death was slow and painful, according to her daughter.

“My mother was in excellent health despite her 80th birthday. Moreover, She was gardening. Similarly, she was cooking, she even dancing on party evenings, ”explains Kathleen de Melo, one of the six children of Fatima Pacheco in Melo, who died on September 24 in Laval.

Shocked to read that. Nevertheless, according to the Ministry of Health and Social Services, the first victim of the EEA virus had fragile health, M^me De Melo wanted to rectify the facts. Meanwhile, Her mother was in good health when the first symptoms of this extremely rare disease in humans hit last year.

Fatima Pacheco de Melo died on September 24 in Laval. Furthermore, Photo provided by Kathleen of Melo

First symptoms

It is first in the waiting room of a radiology cabinet where Kathleen de Melo accompanied her mother for a routine exam that she had her first symptoms. Therefore, nausea, confusion and convulsions.

Alerted, the radiologist had the patient transported to the Jewish general hospital in Montreal.

Fatima Pacheco de Melo, who died on September 24 in Laval, with her six children. Kathleen de Melo

After the usual examinations. the doctors gave him his leave, but the symptoms resumed with more power in the following weeks.

When M^me Pacheco de Melo was hospitalized at the Cité de la Santé de Laval following episodes of intense pain. what was akin to epilepsy, it was transferred to intensive care.

After being plunged into unconsciousness, she died on September 24.

A phone call from the duty intension at the Lavall hospital confirmed to Kathleen de Melo in November 2024. that his mother had succumbed to an EEA virus infection.

Tribute

For her daughter. “she gardening, she cooked, she Fatima Pacheco de Melo was an extraordinary woman who did not deserve to die in this way. Originally from Azores in Portugal, she immigrated to Quebec and devoted herself to her family for almost 60 years.

“Yes. she was bitten by mosquitoes when she was gardening at her chalet in Saint-Calixte, or possibly in Saint-Lin-Laurentides, where she had also gone. Like everyone in Quebec. ”says Kathleen de Melo, unable to specify the moment and the place where the transmission of the fatal pathogen could have taken place.

Photo of Fotolia

This is the first time that a person in Quebec “she gardening, she cooked, she has been the victim of this disease caused by a virus that is known to decimate a horse in a few days.

Transmitted by a species of mosquito more. more present in Quebec, the EEE made two other victims in 2024, one in Ontario and one in New Hampshire.

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A rare but often deadly virus

• Transmitted by one of the 63 species of mosquitoes present in us, the Eastern Eastern Encephalitis (EEE) was diagnosed for the first time in 2016 in Canada. It was in Ontario. The person is not dead from his infection.
• Until September 2024, Three other human cases were confirmed in Canada, but without death.
• In September 2024. an Ottawa resident died after contracting the EEE, marking the first human death in Canada linked to this virus.
• The Quebec Ministry of Health. Social Services has confirmed to “she gardening, she cooked, she the Montreal Journal The first Quebec case, which occurred in September 2024.
• Horses are very vulnerable to this virus which decimates them in a few days. But a vaccine protects them, when there is no medication against the EEE in humans.