How does the world-feared hantavirus spread?

Most of them are Filipinos, Americans and Britons. Interestingly, from our region, there is a Montenegrin on board as a crew member.

Hantavirus is usually spread when people come into close contact with rodent feces, urine, and saliva. This most often happens by inhaling the virus, for example when the urine or feces of rodents containing hantavirus are raised into the air.

The virus can also be transmitted by the bite of rodents, such as rats. Only one strain is known to be very rarely transmitted from person to person – the Andean strain.

When human-to-human transmission occurs, it occurs through very close and prolonged contact with a person who has symptoms. The way hantavirus spreads is different from the flu, which is spread by droplets when people cough or sneeze.

“We are not talking about casual contact from a greater distance between people,” World Health Organization official Maria van Kerkhove told the BBC.

(Vijesti.ba)