The state of Michigan has confirmed its first case of the Hantavirus, a deadly respiratory disease that affects humans through contact with infected rodents. Health officials in Michigan reported that a woman in Washtenaw County was hospitalized suffering from a serious lung illness, which was found to be the Hantavirus. They speculated that the woman may have contracted the virus while cleaning an unoccupied residence that showed signs of rodent infection.
Since January 2017, there have been 728 reported cases of this virus in the United States, which has been monitored by medical teams since 1993, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). New Mexico records the highest number of cases, with 109, followed by Colorado with 104, Arizona with 78, California with 61, and Texas with 45.
The CDC states that infection with this virus is not limited to direct contact with rodents; the virus can be transmitted to humans through air contaminated with the virus from rodent droppings, or by touching an object contaminated with rodent urine or saliva. They also add that eating food contaminated with the droppings of infected rodents poses a risk of infection.
Michigan health official Joni Khalden warned that anyone handling rodents carrying the Hantavirus is at risk of infection. This outbreak primarily circulates among deer mice, and it cannot be transmitted from person to person, unlike the coronavirus. However, the infection is lethal, with nearly 40 percent of those who contract it dying as a result. Symptoms of Hantavirus Pulmonary Syndrome can appear between one to eight weeks following exposure to the virus, with initial symptoms including fatigue, fever, headache, and nausea.
