Hantavirus: What Do You Truly Need To Know?

March 30, 2020, by Abhishek Dutta


There is no end to viruses! in China after the ‘killer’ Coronavirus, another deadly virus ‘Hantavirus’ has appeared in this year 2020. This has caused fear amongst people and there was chaos everywhere.

Yes, Another deadly virus, Hantavirus has surfaced from China in the year 2020. The country where the first coronavirus outbreak began in late 2019.

According to the report, a man died in the Yunnan province of China after testing positive for Hantavirus, not from Coronavirus. The person died while on his way back to work on a chartered bus.

Origin of Hantavirus​

Hantavirus is not something that actually came in 2020 but first appeared in Asia in the year 1950 during the Korean War. But at that time this virus was not isolated. After a long 25 years, in 1976 the hantavirus was isolated, which was appeared in a striped field mouse (The striped field mouse is a rodent in the family Muridae), near the Hantan River in South Korea.

Later on, this virus had been classified under its own genus and named after its origin place Hantan River as Hantavirus. In the year 1993rd May, the first outbreak as an unexplained pulmonary disease happened in The Southwestern United States. After that, it continued to spread in New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado, and Utah.

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What is Hantavirus & Hantavirus Pulmonary Syndrome?​

“Hantavirus is a single-stranded, enveloped, negative-sense RNA virus in the family Hantaviridae of the order Bunyavirales” – According to Wikipedia. Hantaviruses are the kind of virus that is mainly carried by rodents without causing disease.

Symptoms of Hantavirus Pulmonary Syndrome​

We have gathered information about the symptoms of HPS or Hantavirus Pulmonary Syndrome from Various Trusted Sources Like CDC (Centers for Disease Control & Prevention) & WHO (World Health Organization) and presented the highlighted information as below.

Inside the human body, this virus can cause the ‘Hantavirus Pulmonary Syndrome’ with flu-like symptoms. Not only this virus causes disease in the human body, but also it can be contagious but mostly it is not. It can spread from person to person on very rare occasions, But this virus mainly spreads from rodent’s bodily fluids. Hantavirus Pulmonary Syndrome is a severe but sometimes fatal respiratory disease.

Early Symptoms​

• fatigue
• fever
• muscle aches, more likely in the large muscle groups (thighs, hips, back, and sometimes shoulders)

although these are the most common early symptoms, there might be more. As per reports, symptoms like dizziness, chills, headache, and abdominal problems like abdominal pain, vomiting, diarrhea can happen as early symptoms of Hantavirus Pulmonary Syndrome or HPS

Late Symptoms​

• coughing
• shortness of breath

Late symptoms of HPS or Hantavirus Pulmonary Syndrome, can be visible by the infected person after 10 days of initial illness.

What To Do If You Think You Have Hantavirus?​

Proper medical support and follow your doctor’s guidelines. As for now, there is no cure or treatment to kill the virus from your body.

This virus is being usually found in South America and Canada region, If you have any contact with rodents may it be urine, feces, or either. You should get a test of Hantavirus within 1-8 weeks of contact with rodent rats or mice.

This has caused a panic in the region amid the coronavirus outbreak. People are scared of it as it might be the second part of Covid-19. Hantavirus is not a new virus, in case you don’t know.

This is an old found virus. Transmitted from Rodents. It has not shown as contagious behavior as per data available. There were many records of it in the past also.

Overview​

• This virus is not new, It had appeared several times during history
• It is an RNA virus in the family Hantaviridae of the order Bunyavirales.
• Hantavirus has no specific cure, vaccine, and treatment.
• It can be fatal with a mortality rate of 38%.
• These viruses usually infect rodents but do not cause disease in them.
• It has been found that humans who contract this virus usually come into contact with rodents, rats, and mice.
• Although safety precautions are always needed, this is not an issue to be panic about. Especially in this time of COVID-19 pandemic.
• Scientific name of hantavirus is Orthohantavirus.

Conclusion​

In the current time where the whole world already devastated by the COVID-19 pandemic, hantavirus appeared. And created a panic for a short period of time. As various news sources all over the world spread the news of the death, of that person in the Yunnan province of China, in this year's early 2020 march. People started to panic that another deadly virus has come to the surface. But it is not as contagious as coronavirus, so there is nothing to panic about. Although the hantavirus can be fatal, as stated earlier it has a 38% mortality rate. It is always better to be cautious. Don’t panic & don’t create unrest.