According to China’s Global Times, a man from Yunnan Province was tested positive and died due to hantavirus.
Hantaviruses are a family of viruses spread mainly by rodents. Hantaviruses in the Americas are known as “New World” hantaviruses and others are known as “Old World” hantaviruses. They are found mostly in Europe and Asia.
Hantavirus was originally discovered in Asia during the Korean War. The actual virus was not isolated until 20 years later, in 1976. It was discovered in a striped field mouse near the Hantan River in South Korea. Hence the prototype was christened Hantaan virus. It was eventually classified under its own genus Hantavirus.
Hantaviruses can cause Hantavirus Pulmonary Syndrome, which is an infectious disease characterised by flu-like symptoms. It can progress rapidly to potentially life-threatening breathing problems. It can also cause hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome.
Being a zoonotic disease, each hantavirus serotype has a specific rodent host species. It can spread to people via the aerosolised virus that is shed in urine, feces, and saliva. It can spread less frequently by a bite from an infected host.
Symptoms of the Hantavirus Pulmonary Syndrome are fever, Headaches, Muscle aches, Stomach problems, Dizziness and Chills. Late Symptoms can be lungs filling with fluid and shortness of breath.
There are dozens of types of hantaviruses, majority of which do not cause disease in humans.
