A man in China dies from hantavirus, 32 quarantined people: what is this infection and is it worth it to be afraid

While the 2019-nCoV coronavirus is damaging the planet and its economy, China appears to be witnessing the resurgence of yet another virus spread by rodents living in the dark bowels of our world, writes Times of India.

Photo: Shutterstock

On March 24, Global Times reported on Twitter that a man from Yunnan had died when he returned to Shandong to work on a charter bus on March 23. He had a positive hantavirus test result. The remaining 32 bus passengers are in quarantine.

This tweet has become viral on various social networks.

“Coronavirus really needs a backup right now?” “I think I'm ready to move to another planet,” people wrote on Twitter.

Hantavirus pulmonary syndrome (HPS) is a severe, sometimes fatal human respiratory disease caused by hantavirus infection.

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Early symptoms of HPS include fatigue, fever, and muscle pain, especially in the hips, back, and sometimes shoulders.

An infected person may also experience headaches, dizziness, chills, and digestive problems.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), hantaviruses are a family of viruses spread mainly by rodents and can cause various types of diseases in people around the world. Cases of transmission of such a virus from person to person are extremely rare.

Hantaviruses in the Americas are known as “New World” hantaviruses and can cause hantavirus pulmonary syndrome (HPS). Others, known as "Old World" hantaviruses, are found primarily in Europe and Asia and can cause hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome (HFRS).

Each serotype of hantavirus has a specific type of rodent carrier and spreads among people through an aerosol-type virus that is excreted in the urine, feces and saliva of rodents, and less often - from the bite of an infected rodent carrier.

Anyone who comes in contact with rodents carrying hantaviruses is at risk for HPS. Rodent infection in and around the house remains the main risk of infection with hantavirus. Even healthy people are at risk of contracting HPS when exposed to the virus.

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According to the CDC, in Chile and Argentina, rare cases of human-to-human transmission of the virus occurred among close contacts of a person who was sick with a type of hantavirus called the Andean virus. However, in most cases, this type of virus is not transmitted from person to person.

However, not everyone was impressed by the news about the “new mysterious virus.”

“Hanta virus has been around since the 1970s. Person-to-person spread is possible, but very rare. Let's not add fuel to the fire,” one user tweeted at the Global Times.

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