A health alert has been issued in the United States state of Arizona after four people died of rat-borne hantavirus. The virus spreads to humans through droplets from rats’ urine, saliva or feces.
From January through July, the Arizona Department of Health Services documented seven cases of hantavirus pulmonary syndrome, a serious and sometimes deadly respiratory illness.
Two cases of this deadly virus have also been found in California. The virus is mainly spread by deer mice in the Grand Canyon state, causing symptoms such as fever, headache and muscle pain, which can rapidly lead to difficulty breathing. Although hantavirus does not spread from person to person, it can occur in different areas and is not limited to any specific region.
According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), hantaviruses are a family of viruses that are spread primarily by rodents and can cause various disease syndromes in people worldwide. According to the CDC website, it can cause hantavirus pulmonary syndrome (HPS) and hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome (HFRS).
symptoms:
Hantavirus symptoms begin with fatigue, fever, muscle aches, headache, chills, nausea, vomiting, and abdominal pain. Later symptoms include cough and shortness of breath, with a 38% mortality rate for hantavirus pulmonary syndrome. Symptoms of hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome (HFRS) appear 1–8 weeks after exposure, causing headache, pain, fever, chills, nausea, and blurred vision. Severe cases may result in low blood pressure, shock, vascular leakage, and kidney failure. Recovery may take weeks or months.
Treatment:
The CDC says there is no specific treatment, cure, or vaccine for hantavirus infection. However, if an infected person is identified early and provided medical care in an intensive care unit, he or she may get better. In intensive care, patients are intubated and given oxygen therapy to help them through periods of severe respiratory distress.
Prevention:
According to the Centers for Disease Control, rodent control is a primary requirement for preventing hantavirus infection. Contact with rodent urine, feces, saliva and nesting materials should be avoided when cleaning rodent-infested areas.