Everything You Need To Know About The Hantavirus

Since the news broke of it killing a Chinese man on the 24th of March 2020, the Hantavirus has been on everyone’s minds. Some people even went ahead to accuse China of bioengineering viruses in their labs. (Coronavirus and Hantavirus).

Hantavirus epidemic panic tweet
Blaming China tweet

The coronavirus has currently infected almost 400,000 people worldwide and killed 17,000. So it makes sense that people would panic about a new virus showing up to make things worse. However, everyone needs to calm down because it turns out that the hantavirus isn’t even new.

Here’s everything you need to know about the hantavirus.

According to the CDC, the hantaviruses are a family of viruses that can cause a variety of diseases in humans. They are not airborne but are carried by rodents. They can only be spread to humans if they come in contact with urine, faeces, saliva or the occasional bite of an infected host.

Everything You Need To Know About The Hantavirus Image result for rat

While both viruses share certain symptoms (fatigue, fever, muscle aches, headaches), the hantavirus’ chances of being passed from one human to another are very low. However, the hantavirus’ mortality is as high as 36%, much higher than coronavirus’ 3.4%.

So you can rest easy because there’s no chance of the hantavirus becoming a pandemic and causing a global economic shutdown. According to the CDC, controlling the rodent population in your surroundings is the key to avoiding hantavirus infections.

While we have your attention, click here to read an article about the week in a life an NCDC call centre agent.

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Everything You Need To Know About The Hantavirus

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