/data/photo/2020/03/26/5e7c6274a9753.jpg?fit=%2C&ssl=1 "Two Washington DC Residents Infected with Hantavirus, Is Hantavirus Dangerous? page all")
KOMPAS.com – For the first time, the case hantavirus Found in the City of Washington DC, United States.
Reported from Ars Technica, Saturday (5/3/2022), two Washington DC residents were known to be exposed Hantavirus.
Hantavirus is a virus that is spread by rats and has the potential to become an epidemic disease.
The problem of the rat population in Washington DC is indeed very concerning. The reason is, the report mentions an increase in public complaints against rodents from year to year.
From 2014 – 2017, complaints about the presence of these rodents continued to increase by 400 percent.
Meanwhile, in 2021, the total number of complaints will increase by 40 percent from 2020.
Despite Hantaviruses are not transmitted from human to humana person infected with Hantavirus will experience a respiratory disease that is potentially lethal.
Quoted from Kompas.com, (22/12/2021), hantavirus does not cause the rodents to get sick.
Hantavirus transmission to humans can occur through the air. Initially the virus is lodged in the urine, feces, and saliva of mice or other rodents.
Then the virus will infect humans when the human inhales aerosol virus particles.
In addition, transmission can also occur if humans make direct contact with urine and rat droppings that contain hantavirus.
Previously, this type of hantavirus was found in Europe and Asia.
Also read: Hantavirus: From Character, Symptoms, Transmission Process, to Vaccination
Symptoms and dangers of hantavirus
The danger of hantavirus depends on the type of virus. In the case that occurred in Washington DC, the type of hantavirus that infects is “Old World” or the Seoul virus.
This Seoul virus spreads from the common brown rat. Sometimes also from sewer rats or dock rats.
As the name implies, the Seoul virus was first discovered in Korea and has now spread throughout the world.
This Seoul virus case is not the first for the United States. Several cities, such as Baltimore and New Orleans, have recorded similar cases.
An investigation carried out by health officials in the United States in 2017 showed that 31 facilities in 11 states were breeding grounds for rats and potentially spreading the Seoul strain of Hantavirus.
This Seoul virus can cause a disease called Hemorrhagic Fever with Renal Syndrome (HFRS).
The symptoms that are caused are:
- Fever
- Shivering
- Nauseous
- Headache
However, these symptoms can develop more severe into low blood pressure, acute shock, vascular leakage to acute kidney failure.
The mortality rate due to this type of seol virus hantavirus is about 1 percent.
Also read: There are many questions about Hantavirus, here are the sources of spread and how to prevent it…
Varian New World
Besides being targeted by danger Old Worldthe United States is also under threat of hantavirus type New World.
Hantavirus type New World This can cause severe respiratory disease known as Hantavirus Pulmonary Syndrome (HPS).
When compared to Seoul virus type hantavirus, hantavirus New World much more lethal. With a mortality rate of up to 50 percent.
The HPS case was the first to come to attention in the United States since 1993, following a mysterious outbreak of the deadly respiratory disease in the Four Corners area of Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico and Utah.
Initially, this type of hantavirus was called Nameless or an anonymous virus.
At that time, the CDC noted there were 48 cases of hantavirus that occurred. Furthermore, this number continues to increase to 816 cases in 2019.
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