The health department in Andhra Pradesh has detected a new case of hantavirus which was confirmed by doctors at Yashoda Hospital. A Postal department employee from Karimnagar district has been found positive for the deadly virus that is transmitted from rodents to humans.

Experts from the hospitals say that hantaviruses are negative sense RNA viruses in the Bunyaviridae family. Humans may be infected with hantaviruses through rodent bites, urine, saliva or contact with rodent waste products. Some hantaviruses cause potentially fatal diseases in humans, hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome (HFRS) and hantavirus pulmonary syndrome (HPS). However the virus does not spread between humans.

This new case of infected hantavirus was found on October 15 when the patent Bhagavana Rao was admitted with a high grade fever and after which he suddenly became serious with kidney failure and a cardiac arrest.

Earlier when tested for dengue and malaria, the results showed negative. To confirm further the blood samples were sent to Mumbai for HFRS test for hantavirus. “This is a rare virus and is the first ever confirmed case in the city. The laboratories here are not equipped to test for hantavirus and therefore the sample of the patient was sent to Mumbai,” said Dr M V Rao, general physician at Yashoda in Hyderabad.

Once infected with the virus, the mortality rate is very high in Humans. It is usually visible in East Asia and China. Hantavirus is spread especially by deer mice. The virus is found in their urine and stool. Usually the rodents are not affected by the virus, but humans can get sick if they come in contact with contaminated dust from mice droppings.

The pathogenesis of hantavirus infections is unclear as there is a lack of animal models to describe it. While the primary site of viral replication in the body is not known, in HFRS the main effect is in the blood vessels while in HPS most symptoms are associated with the lungs. In HFRS, there is increased vascular permeability and decreased blood pressure due to endothelial dysfunction and the most dramatic damage is seen in the kidneys, whereas in HPS, the lungs, spleen, and gall bladder are most affected. Early symptoms of HPS tend to present similarly to the flu and usually show up around 2 to 3 weeks after exposure. Later stages of the disease will include difficulty breathing, shortness of breath and coughing.

The early symptoms of hantavirus are chills, fever and muscle aches, followed by acute respiratory distress, kidney failure and the skin turning blue with in a very short time.