A Chinese man has reportedly died from another virus identified as Hantavirus on Monday.
He died while on his way back to Shandong Province for work on a chartered bus, as reported in China’s Global Times.
Global Times in a tweet reported that a person from the Yunnan Province in Southwest China had died. The tweet further informed that the remaining 32 people on the bus were tested and the results are not immediately revealed.
Hantavirus immediately became a trend on social media following the report with people panicking that it was another COVID-19 ready to cause a new pandemic. However, unlike coronavirus, hantavirus is not airborne.
Humans who contract the hantavirus usually come into contact with rodents that carry the virus. Rodent infestation in and around the home remains the primary risk for hantavirus exposure.
Luckily, the virus can’t be passed on from person to person, it can be contracted if someone touches their eyes, nose or mouth after touching rodent droppings, urine, or nesting materials.
Early symptoms of the virus include fever, headache, muscle ache, abdominal pain, dizziness, chills and abdominal problems, such as nausea, vomiting, diarrhea. About half of all HPS patients experience these symptoms.
Late symptoms include lungs fill with fluid and shortness of breath.
