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<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\nHantaviruses can infect people and lead to serious illnesses around the world. Individuals typically contract hantavirus through contact with rodents, such as rats and mice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
According to the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, the virus can be contracted when an individual is exposed to the urine, droppings, or saliva of rats or mice. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Additionally, the virus can spread through a rodent bite or scratch, although this is rare.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Hantavirus Pulmonary Syndrome (HPS) is a severe and potentially life-threatening disease that primarily affects the lungs. Symptoms of HPS usually appear 1 to 8 weeks after contact with an infected rodent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Early symptoms include:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
- \n
- Fatigue<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
- \n
- Fever<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
- \n
- Muscle aches, particularly in large muscle groups such as the thighs, hips, back, and sometimes shoulders<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
Approximately half of all HPS patients also experience:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
- \n
- Headaches<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
- \n
- Dizziness<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
- \n
- Chills<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
- \n
- Abdominal issues, which may include nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea, and abdominal pain<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
Four to ten days after the initial phase of the illness, late symptoms of HPS emerge. These include:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
- \n
- Coughing<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
- \n
- Shortness of breath<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
- \n
- Chest tightness, as fluid accumulates in the lungs<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
HPS can be fatal; about 38% of individuals who develop respiratory symptoms may succumb to the disease.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Department of Health (DoH) has requested that the public stay calm after a rare case of Hantavirus was confirmed in a critically ill British national in South Africa.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":127,"featured_media":859138,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[25330,23892],"class_list":["post-859128","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-government","tag-hantavirus","tag-national-department-of-health"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/859128","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/127"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=859128"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/859128\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":859141,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/859128\/revisions\/859141"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/859138"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=859128"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=859128"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=859128"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
- Chest tightness, as fluid accumulates in the lungs<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
- Shortness of breath<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
- Coughing<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
- Abdominal issues, which may include nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea, and abdominal pain<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
- Chills<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
- Dizziness<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
- Headaches<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
- Muscle aches, particularly in large muscle groups such as the thighs, hips, back, and sometimes shoulders<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
- Fever<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n