The hantavirus is not novel and its first case dates back to 1993, according to the US Centre for Disease Control (CDC). It is contracted by humans from infected rodents.
Cases of the hantavirus in humans occur mostly in rural areas where forests, fields and farms offer suitable habitat for infected rodents, CDC explains.
What is hantavirus?
The hantaviruses are a family of viruses spread mainly by rodents. A person can get infected if he/she comes in contact with a rodent that carries the virus.
In the US and Canada, for instance, the Sin Nombre hantavirus carried by the deer mouse is responsible for the majority cases of the hantavirus infection. Like this, there are various other kinds of hantaviruses that find hosts in rodents, like the white-footed mouse and the cotton rat among others, that may lead to infections in humans if transmitted.
In the Americas, the family of viruses is known as ‘New World hantaviruses’. It is the cause of hantavirus pulmonary disease (HPS), a severe respiratory disease. The CDC maintains that HPS can be fatal and has a mortality rate of 38 per cent.
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