Hantavirus

529 Words2 Pages

Hantavirus
Hantavirus is a virus in the Bunyaviridae family of viruses. Dr. Lee Ho Wang from Korea discovered Hantavirus in the early 1950s. Though the virus is commonly found in rodents, it does not cause disease in the rodents. Disease results when the virus is transmitted to humans. A common way of contracting Hantavirus is from breathing in dust that has been contaminated by an infected rodent’s saliva, feces or urine or the infected dust gets into broken skin. It is also transmitted by the bite of an infected rodent. So far, it has not been confirmed that Hantavirus can be passed on from person to person. The most common places to contract Hantavirus are Korea, China or most countries in Asia. In Korea, Hantavirus seems to have two major “seasons;” May to June and October to November are the times of year when the disease is more prevalent because the rodent populations are higher during these times. There are two forms of Hantavirus, the mild illness found in Scandinavia, and the more severe illness found in the Far East and Central Europe.
There are many symptoms of Ha...

More about Hantavirus

Open Document