A man from China’s Yunnan Province died on his way back to Shandong Province, and the word hantavirus began alarming people who already had a pandemic on their minds. He had tested positive for hantavirus and negative for coronavirus.
The fear ran like this: countries were locking down to slow COVID-19, and now another deadly virus seemed to be turning up. Worry spread that he might have infected other people.
The Daily Star’s explainer put the answer plainly. Hantavirus is not new, and it will probably not turn into a global pandemic the way COVID-19 did.
How people catch it
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention describes hantaviruses as a family of viruses spread mainly by rodents, causing different diseases around the world. “Infection with any hantavirus can produce hantavirus disease in people,” the CDC said.
The usual route is contact with rodent urine, feces or saliva. Breathing air contaminated by the virus can also do it. Less often, a bite from an infected rodent passes it on, though the CDC calls that kind of transmission rare.
Illness takes more than one form, including Hantavirus Pulmonary Syndrome and Haemorrhagic Fever with Renal Syndrome. Early symptoms are fever, headache, muscle ache, abdominal pain, dizziness and chills, along with nausea, vomiting and diarrhoea. Symptoms usually appear after seven to 14 days, although some cases show up in as few as four days or as many as two months. The CDC puts the mortality rate at 38%.
Why it is not the next coronavirus
Most hantaviruses cannot pass from one person to another. There is one narrow exception, which the CDC spelled out: “In Chile and Argentina, rare cases of person-to-person transmission have occurred among close contacts of a person who was ill with a type of hantavirus called Andes virus.”
For families worried about their own homes, the CDC’s advice is down to earth. Cut or reduce contact with rodents at home, at work and on campsites. Seal holes and gaps in the house or garage. Set traps in and around the home, and clear away any food that is easy to reach.
Sources
Sources
- Does China Have a 'New' Outbreak of Hantavirus? | Snopes.com
- What is hantavirus? Coronavirus-like disease that just… – Daily Star
