A Michigan woman was hospitalized after contracting a deadly rare virus linked to rodent excrement.
Health officials announced the first case of the Sin Nombre hantavirus in the state on Monday, The Detroit Free Press reported.
The disease can be transmitted to people who are in close contact with rodent feces, urine, and saliva, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The CDC reported only 21 cases of the hantavirus in the US from 1993 to 2018, with last year’s statistics made available on its website.
The disease kills about 40 percent of the people who get it and can “cause coughing and shortness of breath, with a feeling like, as one survivor put it, a ‘… tight band around my chest and a pillow over my face’ ‘ as “lungs fill with fluid,” it says on the government website.
According to the CDC, more manageable symptoms are fever, chills, body aches, headache, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea and abdominal pain. They’re rarely passed on from person to person, officials said.
The unidentified Michigan patient reportedly contracted the virus while cleaning an empty house with signs of active rodent infestation, health officials said.
“We believe that the person was exposed while cleaning up the apartment. Feces … from the infestation likely got into the air during cleaning and was inhaled by the person, “Susan Ringler-Cerniglia, spokeswoman for the Washtenaw County Department of Health, told the newspaper.
“This infection is still considered to be very rare and can be avoided by taking precautionary measures when cleaning up, even if it is severe.”
The patient was reportedly discharged from the hospital after being treated for hantavirus lung syndrome.
“Anyone who comes into contact with hantavirus-infected rodents is at risk for HPS, and healthcare providers with a suspected hantavirus case should contact the local health department to report the case and discuss options for confirmatory testing,” said Dr. Joneigh Khaldun, chief reportedly medical director for the Michigan Department of Health.
The best way to avoid the disease is to take safety precautions when cleaning up after a rodent infestation, officials said. “If your pet finds or kills a rodent, neither dogs nor cats can transmit the hantavirus to humans,” said Ringler-Cerniglia.
“If that happens, be sure to dispose of the rodent with gloves or a plastic bag and clean all affected areas.”
