Hantavirus in China: All you need to know about the virus, and how it spreads

Even as the coronavirus pandemic keeps spreading and countries around the world report new cases every day, China has reported a death due to a new virus called Hantavirus.

China Global Times reported that a man from Yunnan Province died due to the new virus on a bus while returning to Shandong Province on Monday. The 32 travellers with him were also tested for the virus.

What is Hantavirus?

According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, the whole family of hantavirus are spread from rodents and can affect people.

The virus causes hantavirus pulmonary syndrome (HPS) and haemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome (HFRS).

The virus spreads from rodents to humans if a person comes in direct contact with the urine, faeces, and saliva of rodents.

Symptoms

Fatigue, Fever, muscle aches, headaches, dizziness, chills and abdominal pains are early symptoms of HPS. Later symptoms include coughing and shortness of breath. The CDC website says that the virus can be fatal as it has a mortality rate of 38%.

HFRS has similar symptoms to HPS but can also cause some serious problems like low blood pressure, acute shock, vascular leakage, and acute kidney failure.

HFRS can rarely transfer from one person to another.

According to the CDC, controlling the rodent population is the primary method of preventing the Hantavirus from spreading.

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