Veterinary Public Health Journal | Issue #17
Hantavirus:Threat of Infectious Disease by Rodents
Everyone is in fear, everywhere there is lock down, every sector is in silence and this is how the threat of disease is like. Like COVID-19 in this crucial year 2020, there was a threat of disease named Hantavirus( Orthohantavirus) in 1993. It is a single stranded, enveloped, negative sense RNAVirus which normally infect rodents, but do not cause disease in them.
ORIGIN: There is place known as “The Four Corners” in southwestern United States, in an area shared b y Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado and Utah where in May 1993 a young , physically healthy Navajo man suffering from shortness of breath was rushed to a hospital in New Mexico and died rapidly. Going thoroughly to the case it was found that the young man’s fiancée had died a few days ago showing similar symptoms which became a piece of information that proved key to discovering the disease. As more people were found in later days who all had died after acute respiratory failure , an investigation combing the entire Four Corners region was launched by the New Mexico Office of Medical Investigations (OMI) from which mixture of symptoms and clinical findings pointed it is a new type of influenza and towards some type of virus. From a deep narrow test at molecular level, virologist were able to link the pulmonary syndrome with a virus, in particular a previously unknown type of hantavirus. As researchers had known that all other hantavirus were transmitted to people by rodents, such as mice and rats, they started to trap all rodents during which they decided not to wear protective clothing or masks which could scare the people. But later 1700 rodents being trapped, respirators and protective clothing were worn as they were dissecting them to prepare sample analysis at CDC. In November 1993, the specific hantavirus that caused the Four Corners outbreak was isolated from deer mouse(Peromyscusmaniculatus) .The new virs was called Muerto Canyon VetPubHealth Journal ISSUE 17
l a k a h D Rabin virus-later changed to Sin Nombre virus (SNV) which means nameless virus and the new disease caused by the virus was named hantavirus pulmonary syndrome, or HPS. Since 1993, researchers have discovered several hantavirus i.e. Bayou virus, linked to a carrier, the rice rat (Oryzomyspalustris) and Creek Canal virus, whose carrier is cotton rat.
(source:www.cdc.gov) Hantavirus is named for the Hantan River area in South Korea where early outbreak was observed and was first isolated in 1976.
Transmission:
Basic course of transmission Source: Possibilistic.org
IVSA Standing Committe on One Health
April 2020
16
