An unidentified man from Yunnan province in China has died on a bus and was tested positive for a virus other than the pathogen that causes the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), according to a report of the New York Post that was based on the state-run Global Times.
The victim died while on a chartered bus on way to his workplace in Shandong province.
“He was tested positive for #hantavirus. Other 32 people on bus were tested,” the outlet stated, offering no further details.
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The mention of a virus originating from China other than the COVID-19, which is the cause of death of thousands around the globe, has caused panic and is now a trending topic in social media.
Swedish scientist Dr. Sumaiya Shaikh said in her tweet that the hantavirus is not new.
“The #Hantavirus first emerged in the 1950s in the American-Korean war in Korea (Hantan river). It spreads from rat/mice if humans ingest their body fluids. Human-human transmission is rare,” she said.
“Please do not panic, unless you plan to eat rats,” she added.
The US Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, describes the hantaviruses as a group of viruses that may be carried by some rodents. Some hantaviruses can cause a rare but deadly disease called hantavirus pulmonary syndrome or HPS.
People get HPS when they breathe in hantaviruses. This can happen when rodent urine and droppings that contain a hantavirus are stirred up into the air.
People can also become infected when they touch mouse or rat urine, droppings, or nesting materials that contain the virus and then touch their eyes, nose, or mouth. They can also get HPS from a mouse or rat bite.
