New Virus Discovered; The Hantavirus

The world may not be over with the coronavirus pandemic, and yet there is another kind of virus lurking around recently, the Hantavirus.

According to Global Times, a man from the Yunnan province of China died from it while he was on a bus going to the area of Shandong. Other passengers with him were tested for the virus as well.

According to the Center for Disease Control, this kind of virus is spread from rodents. This infection could cause some to humans as well. It can bring different diseases as well.

According to the CDC, Hantaviruses in the Americas are known as “New World” hantaviruses and may cause hantavirus pulmonary syndrome (HPS). Other hantaviruses, known as “Old World,” hantaviruses, are found mostly in Europe and Asia and may cause hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome (HFRS).

The serotype of the Hantavirus from a specific rodent host that is spread on to humans through aerosol through urine, feces, saliva, and on rare cases from a bite of the infected host.

In the US, the Sin Nombre virus is spread by the deer mouse.

In the US< the outbreak of Hantavirus started in 1993 when there was a severe respiratory illness in the Four Corners regions.

The CDC website also states, “Hantavirus pulmonary syndrome (HPS) became a nationally notifiable disease in 1995 and is now reported through the Nationally Notifiable Disease Surveillance System (NNDSS) when fever is present in a patient with laboratory-confirmed evidence of hantavirus infection.

In 2014, the Council of State & Territorial Epidemiologists expanded the national reporting of laboratory-confirmed hantavirus infections to include HPS and non-pulmonary hantavirus infection. Reporting of non-pulmonary hantavirus cases began in 2015.”

Due to the small number of cases, the bases for information are limited. Still, as per CDC, symptoms may develop from 1-8 weeks after being exposed to the fresh urine, feces, saliva, and infected rodents. Incubation is not known.

Known early signs are fatigue, fever, muscle aches (thigh, hips, back, and shoulders). There may also be headaches, dizziness, chills, and abdominal problems, such as nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, and abdominal pain. About half of all HPS patients experience these symptoms.

After the initial phase, 4-10 days after, the following symptoms would appear. These include coughing and shortness of breath, with the sensation of, as one survivor put it, a “…tight band around my chest and a pillow over my face” as the lungs fill with fluid.

There is no cure, treatment, or vaccine for the infection, but if the cause is known earlier and would receive intensive care treatment, infected persons, they are more likely to get better. These patients are intubated and given oxygen therapy to help them during the severe respiratory phase.

If the infected person suspects that they have been in close contact with rodents, urine, bite, etc., it is best to see the doctor immediately and to tell the doctor about it so that they will be able to look carefully for any chance of HPS.

Hantavirus disease is fatal and has a mortality rate of 38%.

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