While the whole world is trying to find a treatment for the coronavirus pandemic, which has infected about 400,000 patients and killed more than 16,500 cases, a new virus hit China again and killed a man from Yunnan province. Some doctors said that he has died from a new virus called Hantavirus...
So what is Hantavirus? How does it spread? what are the early symptoms? How can we protect ourselves from the new virus?
1- What is Hantavirus and how does it spread?
Hantavirus is a kind of rodent-borne viruses causing clinical illness in humans of varying severity. There are several different hantaviruses, with a different geographical distribution and causing different clinical diseases.
The term hantavirus represents several groups of RNA-containing viruses (that are members of the virus family of Bunyaviridae) that are carried by rodents and can cause severe respiratory infections termed hantavirus pulmonary syndrome (HPS) and hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome (HFRS).
HPS is found mainly in the Americas (Canada, U.S., Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Panama, and others) while hemrrhatic fever with renal syndrome (HFRS) is found mainly in Russia, China, and Korea but may be found in Scandinavia and Western Europe and occasionally in other areas.
The Center for Disease Control says that the virus is spread mainly from rodents. It goes on to say that infection with any of the hantavirus can cause hantavirus disease in people.
The hantaviruses could be transmitted by
1- Rodent urine
2- Rodent droppings
3- Saliva (rodent bite)
4- The animals
5- By aerosolized dust contaminated with rodent urine or feces to human skin breaks or to mucous membranes of the mouth, nose, or eyes.
The vast majority of HPS and HFRS infections do not transfer from person to person.
What are the early symptoms?
Early HPS signs and symptoms begin about one to five weeks after the person contacts hantavirus associated with rodent urine, feces, or saliva. The early symptoms are flu-like, last about four to 10 days, and include
1- fatigue
2- fever
3- muscle aches, especially large muscles in the legs, back, and hips.
Almost every infected person develops these symptoms. Other symptoms of HPS that may occur in about half of infected patients include
4- abdominal pain (with nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea)
5- headaches
6- chills
7- dizziness
Late symptoms of HPS occur about four to 10 days after the early symptoms and include;
1- coughing
2- chest pain
3- shortness of breath that can become severe.
Is Hantavirus contagious?
There is no evidence that HPS is not contagious from person to person contact in the US. The virus spreads from rodents to humans. Although outbreaks seem like there is person-to-person transfer, outbreaks are usually noted among groups of people exposed to the same infected rodent population while those with hantavirus infections do not transfer them to other uninfected inpiduals.
What is the incubation period for hantavirus?
According to the CDC, in North America, the incubation period (time from initial exposure to the virus and development of the first symptoms) is between one to five weeks after initial exposure to infected rodent urine, droppings, or saliva.
In South American outbreaks, researchers estimate that the incubation period varies from about 12-27 days.
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