1.\u00a0Hantavirus mostly infects wild rodents<\/p>\n
Hantavirus is a zoonotic infection, meaning it originates in animals but can cause disease in humans. Hantavirus has been detected in more than 100 species of mammals, including foxes and bats, but is primarily found in wild rodents, which can have persistent hantavirus infections without symptoms. In one recent study<\/a>, about 3% of deer mice and white-footed mice across the United States tested positive for hantavirus, with geographic hotspots in Virginia, Colorado and Texas.<\/p>\n People typically become infected with the virus by inhaling microscopic particles from these rodents\u2019 urine, feces or saliva \u2014 for instance, while cleaning a remote cabin infested with wild rodents. In the last 30 years, the CDC has logged 890 cases<\/a> of hantavirus disease in humans, with 94% of cases west of the Mississippi and most occurring in Colorado, Arizona or New Mexico.<\/p>\n Salinas was quick to point out that even in these high-risk states, house mice \u2014 the species you might see scurrying around a suburban garage or attic \u2014 are not the usual carriers of hantavirus.<\/p>\n \u201cThis virus is really one that\u2019s found in wild rodents,\u201d he said. \u201cInfected animals might make their way inside a cabin in the mountains or a remote ranch, but we\u2019re not typically seeing them in suburban or urban environments.\u201d<\/p>\n 2.\u00a0This outbreak strain is unusual in its ability to spread between people<\/p>\n Hantavirus strains found in North America, including the strain that most likely killed Betsy Arakawa, don\u2019t spread from person to person. Someone may become infected from rodents, but the virus ends there. The Andes virus, found in South America, is different; it is the only hantavirus documented to occasionally transmit between people. In 2018, the Andes strain of hantavirus spread throughout a small village in Argentina. Ultimately, the virus infected 34 people and caused 11 deaths<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n But hantavirus, even the Andes strain, is not efficient at spreading between people.<\/p>\n \u201cThere are respiratory viruses like flu and COVID-19 that are incredibly efficient at transmitting person to person. That\u2019s what they have evolved to do,\u201d Salinas said. \u201cHantavirus just isn\u2019t like that. It can jump to a few people after close contact with an infected, symptomatic individual, but we don\u2019t expect it to spread very far.\u201d<\/p>\n Data suggests that transmission between people requires close contact with someone who is already showing signs of infection. An analysis of the 2018 outbreak found that it began when one person, infected from a rodent, attended a birthday party of about 100 people. Over the following months, just three symptomatic individuals \u2014 attending other social gatherings while ill \u2014 drove all 34 infections.<\/p>\n In the end, the 2018 outbreak was contained through isolation and quarantine. More than 80 health care workers who had unprotected contact with patients were not infected, underscoring how inefficiently the Andes virus tends to jump between humans.<\/p>\n 3.\u00a0The disease can be deadly, and there is no vaccine<\/p>\n