Hantavirus-Myth Vs Reality

People are showing more concern about Hantavirus, they claim that after the catastrophic coronavirus, a new virus named ‘Hantavirus’ has originated in China. However, experts say that the claim is wrong; Hantavirus is not a new form of the disease.

According to AFP, experts say that Hantavirus was first discovered during the Korean War in the 1950s.

According to the US-based Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the virus transmits from rodents to humans instead of humans to humans.

Such claims were being circulated on social media and several people took the claims seriously, as coronavirus has already become a heated topic among people.

In one of the posts on social media, it was written,

“Just when China and whole world is trying to get cured of coronavirus, here comes another virus.

“There is a new virus in China named Hantavirus which is caused due to rats” “One died and few tested positive”.

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According to Chinese media, one case of Hantavirus was reported in China. The news came out on 24th March 2020.

AFP says that another claim was made on Facebook by one of the Australia-based Facebook users that it is a new virus. The posts got huge shares and several people reacted to them.

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However, experts say that the virus was first detected in the 1950s.

In a study made in 2010, titled, “A Global Perspective on Hantavirus Ecology, Epidemiology, and Disease” was published in the peer-reviewed journal Clinical Microbiology Reviews. It states: ”In the past century, two major outbreaks of the disease led to the discovery of hantaviruses in the Old and New Worlds. The first outbreak occurred during the Korean War (1950 to 1953), wherein more than 3,000 United Nations troops fell ill with Korean hemorrhagic fever, which is commonly referred to as hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome (HFRS).”