After creating havoc in China, Coronavirus is now taking a toll on all the other countries across the world. More than 18,000 people have died across the world due to this pandemic, with majority coming from Italy and China. With no medications or vaccines discovered to control the spread of the virus, people across the world are having a hard time to save the lives all those who are affected by it. However, the epicenter of the infection China which is now free of Coronavirus has another problem to tackle. A new virus is now spreading panic across the residents of the Yunnan province of China.
A man who was tested positive for the Hantavirus died due to the disease. The man was infected by a rat caused virus and was on his way to the Shandong Province and was traveling in a bus with 32 more travellers when he passed away. The healthcare officers in the province are now testing all the 32 travelers for the new virus to stop it from spreading across the country and the world like Coronavirus.
UNDERSTANDING HANTAVIRUS
Hantavirus, according to the China’s Center for Disease Control and Prevention, is a member of the virus family that spreads mainly by rodents. The virus can cause different types of disease syndromes across the world. Infection with a Hantavirus can lead to the deadly Hantavirus disease. In America, Hantaviruses are called as the New World Hantavirus and lead to Hantavirus Pulmonary Syndrome (HPS). The other Hantaviruses are called as the Old Hantavirus which are mostly found in European and Asian countries and lead to Hemorrhagic fever with Renal Syndrome (HFRS)
In India, a 12 year old child was tested positive in the city of Mumbai in 2016. The patient died due to the infection after some time.
HOW IS HANTAVIRUS CAUSED?
According to the healthcare officials in China, it is believed that each Hantavirus serotype has an explicit rodent host species. The infection spreads from rodents to people through aerosolized virus that is excreted by the form of urine, saliva or feces of the infected host and later comes in contact with a human. The virus can also affect people when bitten by the infected host.
Sin Nombre virus is the most important Hantavirus in the USA that leads to HPS in patients and is spread by the deer mouse. According to Canada’s Public Health Service, the disease is also caused by simply inhaling the virus particles that come from the infected rodent’s urine, saliva and feces. So, when a person comes in contact with these carriers or touches the food eaten by the rodents or their saliva, he can get infected by it.
HANTAVIRUS SYMPTOMS
The Hantavirus like all other viruses has a brief incubation period and infects a person between 1 and 8 weeks. The symptoms of the virus are: Fever, Fatigue, Muscle Ache, Chills, Abdominal pain, Headache, Nausea, Dizziness, Diarrhea and Vomiting.
When a person is infected by the virus, the main muscle areas of our body such as our back, shoulders, thighs and hips pain a lot. The symptoms later lead to a condition in the patient where the lungs get infected and start depositing in body fluid in them, thus making it difficult for them to breathe.
HOW DOES THE HANTAVIRUS SPREAD?
Humans contract the Hantavirus when they come in direct contact with the infected rodents. The best part about the infection is that it cannot be transmitted from person to person like coronavirus. It can however spread if a person touches his/her face, eyes, nose or mouth after touching the nesting, urine or feces of the infected rodents.
