According to a new survey, A Chinese man has died due to this virus which is called ‘hantavirus’. This isn’t a new virus and has been infecting humans for decades.
The world is already battling with the pandemic of a novel coronavirus, which began in China. As we all know that coronavirus has killed more than 16,000 people throughout the world. And the outbreak is still isn’t in under control.
This morning, hantavirus was one of the top trends on Twitter right after the Chinese media tweeted about a person who’s dead due to the virus. However, as the word is spreading that this virus is not a new one, it’s been infecting people for decades.
Let’s learn something more about this virus.
WHAT IS HANTAVIRUS?
Few people are considering it another virus yet so isn’t the case. US’s National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) in a journal composes that as of now, the hantavirus genus includes more than 21 species.
During the Korean war (1951-1953) more than 3,000 cases of Korean hemorrhagic fever were reported among the United Nations (UN) troops. If you will dig deep you’ll know that this virus was named after a river Hantan, and the name it got was the Hantaan virus.
Later, In 1981, a new genus named as “hantavirus” was presented in the Bunyaviridae family, which included the infections that cause hemoroligic fever with renal syndrome (HFRS).
HERE ARE THE SYMPTOMS OF HANTAVIRUS?
If people get HPS(hantavirus pulmonary syndrome), they will start feeling sick one to five weeks after they were around mice or rats that carried a #hantavirus.
At first people with HPS will have:
- Fever
- Severe muscle aches
- Fatigue
- Difficulty in breathing
- Headaches
- Dizziness
- Chills
- Nausea
- Vomiting
- Diarrhea, and
- Stomach pain.
But, usually, people do not have a runny nose, sore throat, or a rash.
CDC ON HANTAVIRUS
As per the United State’s Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), hantaviruses may cause hantavirus pulmonary syndrome [HPS],” writes that hantaviruses are a family of viruses that increase and spread by rodents. It caused varied disease syndromes in people across the world.
People get HPS when they breathe in hantaviruses. This can happen when rat urine and droppings that contain hantavirus are worked into the air. If a person gets in contact with a mouse or rodent urine, droppings, or nesting materials that contain the virus. Afterward touch their eyes, nose, or mouth one can likewise become infected with HPS and also from a mouse or rodent bite.
As per research, in the US, 10 confirm cases are report of hantavirus infection in people. Who visited Yosemite National Park in California, US, in November 2012. Similarly, in 2017, CDC assisted health officials in investigating an outbreak of Seoul virus infection that infected 17 people in seven states.
