Mystery illness killing thousands of Latin Americans, spreading fast
A silent, mysterious killer that has already claimed tens of thousands of lives in the past decade is stalking the manual laborers of Central America. At least one in four Central American men are already silently afflicted. As the death toll mounts, local and international authorities are scrambling to identify the culprit, and to halt its spread. - As reported by the AP, since 2000, at least 24,000 workers across Central America have died from the onset of kidney failure, many victims between the ages of 30 and 50. The prime commonality appears to be that the sick and dying men are manual laborers, particularly those working in construction, agriculture, and mining. The disease also affects women, but in much lower numbers. It is believed that one-in-four men across the region has signs of Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD). The Pan American Health Organization has also reported that incidence of the disease is also rising rapidly, doubling in the past decade alone. However, no specific cause has been identified. All that's understood is that the men develop kidney failure and suffer painful deaths. Adding to the mystery is the regional nature of the disease. Such rates of CKD are seen nowhere else in the world, except Central America.