The world hasn’t come out of the fear of Coronavirus yet and the news of the new viruses is already started catching the headlines of some of the leading national and international media. In one of the recent incident, one person died of a Hantavirus in China and the bus he was traveling consisting of 32 passengers were sent into quarantine. Is it the beginning of the new epidemic?
According to the WHO (World Health Organisation), HPS is a zoonotic (which could spread from animals to human) viral respiratory disease, which could spread from rodents. and the symptoms of the Hantavirus decease include headache, dizziness, chills fever, muscle pain, and stomach problems, such as nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, and abdominal pain, followed by sudden onset of respiratory distress and low blood pressure.
A person from south China’s Yunnan province died of Hantavirus infection, or the Hantavirus Pulmonary Syndrome (HPS) while on his way to eastern China’s Shandong province, the tabloid Global Times reported in a tweet on Monday.
“He was tested positive for hantavirus. Other 32 people on the bus were tested,” the GT tweet said without elaborating much on the incident. The infection (in humans) is spread through inhalation of aerosols or contact with infected rodent excreta, droppings, or saliva of infected rodents stated the WHO report.
“Cases of human hantavirus infection usually occur in rural areas (e.g. forests, fields, and farms) where sylvatic rodents hosting the virus might be found and where persons may be exposed to the virus,” the WHO report said.
According to the CDC, unlike coronavirus, Hantavirus serotype has a specific rodent host species and is spread to people via an aerosolised virus that is shed in urine, feces, and saliva, and less frequently by a bite from an infected host, but it is equally or perhaps more fatal in nature.
Although the spread of viruses might happen from different objects just like coronavirus this virus also does not have any vaccine. But if patients are diagnosed early on they can be hospitalized and provided intensive care so as to avoid fatality.
In the absence of a cure, medical professionals advise rodent control as the primary measure to halt the spread of the hantavirus. Social distancing is the key to the spread of Hantavirus which is similar to the coronavirus, stated the WHO report.
According to the United States’ Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, hantaviruses are a family of viruses spread mainly by rodents and can cause varied disease syndromes in people worldwide. Infection with any hantavirus can produce hantavirus disease in people. Hantaviruses in the Americas are known as “New World” hantaviruses while another hantavirus, mostly in Europe and Asia, are known as “Old World” hantaviruses.
