The news about the death of a man in China due to hantavirus on Tuesday sent shockwaves in the nations already reeling under the coronavirus crisis.
Several users quickly logged in to the internet to find out what hantavirus is and would it become another global pandemic.
US-based Centre for Disease Control (CDC) has informed that the virus belongs to the family of hantaviruses and it spreads through rodents and causes hantavirus pulmonary syndrome or HP.
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This virus is primarily present in rats in China.
The CDC further informed that the hantavirus is far from becoming a global pandemic and the disease is transmitted if someone breathes in contaminated air.
The CDC further revealed that hantavirus spreads as a result of close contact with rodent urine, saliva and droppings and the rare virus cannot be transmitted from one human to another.
HPS symptoms include fever, muscle ache, fatigue, dizziness – similar to those of influenza and coughing and shortening of breath can happen only when the infection reaches the lungs and fills it with liquid.
The CDC further informed that there is no vaccine for treating HPS and the infected person needs to be immediately rushed to the intensive care unit of a hospital.
“The sooner a person gets intensive care, he will get better,” the CDC informed.