United States: People across the world, including Pennsylvania, experienced serious health problems and death from hantaviruses until the latest infection appeared in 2022.
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According to Jeffrey Jahre, MD, St. Luke’s Senior Vice President of Medical & Academic Affairs and Section Chief Emeritus of Infectious Diseases, “Hantavirus’s role in the recent tragic death of the actor Gene Hackman and his wife provides an opportunity to educate the public about this virus and implications for residents in our area,” thevalleyledger.com reported.
Hantavirus disease occurs at low rates among humans, while our specific area shows minimal cases. However, it has been documented across 41 states, together with Pennsylvania and its close neighbors, according to Jahre.
The virus spreads to humans by inhaling tiny virus-bearing particles that come from rodents and rat waste materials.
Summer residents and hunters who manage hunting lodges face higher exposure risks when they open their properties since rodents typically build populations within these buildings during winter months.
Cases in the US
The United States has deer mice as its primary hantavirus carrier, but white-footed mice and rats, together with voles, can also disseminate the virus.
Hantavirus disease occurs most frequently in the United States within the Southwest region, extending to the Four Corners area of New Mexico, Arizona, and Colorado, together with western states Washington, California, and Montana.
A hantavirus outbreak affected the Navajo population in 1993, which allowed the CDC and public health authorities to acknowledge the disease, thevalleyledger.com reported.
Medical scientists identified a particular hantavirus strain that obtained the name Sin Nombre virus, meaning “no name virus,” when abbreviated with the acronym SNV.
Fever combined with chills and intense muscle pain emerge two to three weeks after exposure to hantavirus infection.
Other than a cough, the appearance of standard respiratory symptoms fails to manifest.
Hantavirus symptoms start off non-diagnostic, so healthcare providers must pair these symptoms with knowledge about rodent exposure to achieve a proper diagnosis.