After Coronavirus, China Reports First Death Due to Hantavirus

While the world is still struggling to contain the spread of Coronavirus, a rodent-borne virus called Hantavirus has reportedly emerged in China.

According to China’s Global Times, a 32 years old man from Yunnan died while going to Shandong on a bus. Posthumous tests of the man revealed that he had been infected by Hantavirus. Healthcare authorities have also tested 32 other passengers of the bus for the same disease.

The news of another virus emerging in China has sparked fears among social media users that this disease could also snowball into a global crisis like the COVID-19.

As per the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDCP), humans who contract the Hantavirus usually come into contact with four types of rodents that carry the virus; deer mouse, cotton rat, rice rat, white-footed mouse.

Hantavirus has symptoms similar to Coronavirus such as fever, shortness of breath, headache, muscle pain, chills, stomach problems, and dizziness. However, unlike Coronavirus, Hantavirus does not spread from human to human, according to CDCP.