A health alert has been issued in the state of Arizona, in the United States, after a rodent-borne hantavirus killed four people. The virus spreads to humans through droplets from the urine, saliva, or faeces of the rats.

From January to July, the Arizona Department of Health Services documented seven instances of Hantavirus Pulmonary Syndrome, a serious and occasionally lethal respiratory disease.

Two cases related to this deadly virus have also been found in California. The virus, primarily carried by deer mice in the Grand Canyon State, causes symptoms such as fever, headache, and muscle pain, which can rapidly progress to difficulty breathing. While hantavirus is not spread from person to person, it can occur in various regions and is not limited to a specific area.

According to the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), hantaviruses are a family of viruses spread mainly by rodents and can cause varied disease syndromes in people worldwide. This can cause hantavirus pulmonary syndrome (HPS) and hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome (HFRS), the CDC website says.

Symptoms:

Hantavirus symptoms start with fatigue, fever, muscle aches, headaches, chills, nausea, vomiting, and abdominal pain. Late symptoms include coughing and shortness of breath, with a 38% mortality rate for hantavirus pulmonary syndrome. Hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome (HFRS) symptoms appear 1-8 weeks post-exposure, causing headaches, pain, fever, chills, nausea, and blurred vision. Severe cases may lead to low blood pressure, shock, vascular leakage, and kidney failure. Recovery can take weeks or months.

Treatment:

The CDC says there is no specific treatment, cure, or vaccine for hantavirus infection. However, if the infected are recognised early on and are provided medical care in an intensive care unit, they may do better. In intensive care, patients are intubated and given oxygen therapy to help them through the period of severe respiratory distress.

Prevention:

According to the Centres for Disease Control, rodent control is the primary necessity to prevent hantavirus infections. Contact with rodent urine, droppings, saliva, and nesting materials should be avoided when cleaning rodent-infested areas.

A 59-year-old man died in southeastern Kentucky, United States, this week after he was attacked by a swarm of bees, according to a county coroner. The man was stung while moving an old bag of potting soil from his porch in Harlan County, which is near the Virginia state line and about 160 miles southeast of Lexington.

In a statement, the Harlan County Coroner’s Office said that on the evening of September 19, 2023, the Coroner’s Office was notified of the tragic death of a 59-year-old male who was stung by a swarm of bees after moving an old bag of potting soil from his porch. Deputy Coroner John W. Jones responded to the scene and pronounced the gentleman dead at 5:50 p.m. in the Harlan ARH Emergency Room. CPR was started by family and continued by Lifeguard Ambulance and the Emergency Department, but attempts to revive the man were unsuccessful.

“The immediate family has been notified, but the coroner’s office will withhold the name of the dead person until all family members can be reached. The investigation still continues by Deputy Coroner Jones, and our heartfelt prayers go out to the entire family and friends,” the department said.

According to Fox News, earlier this year, an 83-year-old Arizona man died after authorities say bees swarmed and stung him at his home in Peoria. During that incident in June, first responders received a medical call and found the man in full cardiac arrest after suffering numerous bee stings.