Hantavirus Is Screaming In The Media, But It's Not A New Infection

Hantavirus is screaming in the media, but it's not a new infection

In the Chinese province of Yunnan, a passenger suddenly died on a bus. He was found to have hantavirus, an infection that is transmitted to humans through rodents. Amid the panic over COVID-19, the news spread quickly around the world. Is the increased attention of journalists to the incident justified?

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In the Chinese province of Yunnan, a passenger suddenly died on a bus. He was found to have hantavirus, an infection that is transmitted to humans through rodents. Amid the panic over COVID-19, the news spread quickly around the world.

In fact, outbreaks of hantavirus infections have already occurred in the world in many countries, including the United States and Russia. Eleven types of these viruses are capable of causing hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome and hantavirus pulmonary syndrome.

China has the highest incidence of hemorrhagic fever - from 16 to 100 thousand cases per year. According to some reports, Russia could go next with about a thousand episodes a year.

So far, scientists cannot say with certainty whether hantavirus can be transmitted from person to person, but there have been no recorded cases of this.

Usually people suffer who are in closed and poorly ventilated rooms where rodents live for a long time. The infection is transmitted through airborne particles or through contact with the faeces, droppings or saliva of infected animals.

One of the most recent outbreaks of hantavirus pulmonary syndrome was reported in Argentina in 2019. Then there were 29 cases of infection (laboratory confirmed) and 11 deaths.