FOUR people have died this year in the US after being infected with an incurable rat-borne disease.
All were diagnosed with hantavirus, a family of viruses that kill about 38% of patients and spread through rodent droppings.
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It typically causes only about 30 cases per year in the U.S., but some parts of the country are seeing an increase in the disease.
Arizona public health officials have confirmed six cases and three deaths in the past six months.
This is compared to 11 cases in the six years from 2016 to 2022.
There have also been two cases and one death in California this year, including in a county that has not detected the virus in humans for two decades.
Experts speculate that extreme heat waves sweeping the county may be partly to blame.
“Many disease-carrying species advance with climate change,” said Dr. Camilo Mora, professor in the Department of Geography and Environment at the University of Hawaii at Mānoa.
“Although for any specific case it is difficult to conclude the role of climate change, climate change has all the attributes to cause vector-borne disease outbreaks,” he said. NBC News.
Rats and mice can carry hantavirus but do not show symptoms.
Meanwhile, humans can experience an abrupt onset of fever, muscle aches, nausea and abdominal pain nine to 33 days after infection.
Sometimes this can progress to something more serious called Hantavirus Pulmonary Syndrome, which has a 50% mortality rate.
About one to eight weeks after infection, patients typically experience fever, muscle aches, headaches, nausea, vomiting and fatigue.
Four to 10 days later, the illness progresses to shortness of breath.
The disease attacks the blood vessels in the lungs, causing them to leak and fill the lungs with fluid. This can lead to suffocation and death.
Doctors treat the virus by using ventilators to ensure patients get enough oxygen.
Patients also receive intravenous fluids to ensure they get enough nutrients and stay hydrated.
Some medications may also be given to help control pain, fever, and other symptoms.
But there is no specific treatment, cure or vaccine for hantavirus infection.
Hantavirus: 7 things you need to know
- Hantavirus is a zoonotic viral respiratory disease
- It can progress to hantavirus fever or hantavirus pulmonary syndrome. The latter has a mortality rate of up to 50 percent
- Individuals become infected with the virus through contact with droppings, droppings, or saliva from infected rodents such as rats, rats, or rats. Infection usually occurs in rural areas
- Symptoms include headache, dizziness and fever. Nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain and diarrhea may also occur, followed by sudden onset of difficulty breathing.
- The virus occurs worldwide and the first documented outbreak of the disease occurred during the Korean War when more than 3,000 soldiers fell ill with the disease. This is characterized as Old World hantavirus
- In 1993 there was an outbreak of the virus in the United States – known as New World hantavirus and can lead to the most serious pulmonary form of the disease. The first major outbreak of the disease in Panama occurred in 2000, when three people died
- There is no treatment or vaccine for hantavirus – the best way to prevent it is through rodent control
Source: World Health Organization
This story originally appeared on The-sun.com read the full story
