AlertOfficials in New Mexico announced on Friday that his hackman’s wife, Betsy Arakawa, died of a Huntavirus infection.
Huntavirus, which is found all over the world, is spread by rats or contact with their urine or feces. It does not spread among people. There is no specific treatment or cure, but early medical help may increase the probability of survival.
Infection can progress rapidly and become fatal.
“It really starts like a flu: pain in the body, overall looks weak,” said DR DR of Dallas’s UT Southwestern Medical Center .. Sonja Bartolom. “At the beginning of the illness, you will not really be able to tell the difference between being huntavirus and flu.”
US for disease control and prevention According to the centers, the virus is the cause of a serious and sometimes fatal infection, called hentavirus pulmonary syndrome. The agency began to find the virus after the 1993 outbreak of the 1993 Corners area in the area of ​​Arazona, Colorado, New Mexico and Utah.
He was a surprising physician with the Indian Health Service, who first noticed the death of death in young patients, a pulmonologist at the University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center.
“They were healthy, they had no medical problems and they were coming up with cardiopulmonary arrests,” he said the CDC involvement was asked to determine what patients were normal.
Most of our cases have been in the Western states, especially the southwest. Between 1993 and 2022, there were 864 our cases. New Mexico had the highest number at that time, at 122, followed by Colorado 119.
According to the New Mexico Department of Health, seven cases were confirmed in 2023 and the second seven in 2024. Speaking of death, the state has reported 52 between 1975 and 2023.
The CDC has offered to learn more about the stress of the virus and test the samples involved in the petition case for pathology testing.
According to the CDC, symptoms begin one to eight weeks after exposure and may initially include fatigue, fever and muscle aches. As the disease progresses, symptoms may include cough, shortness of breath and rigidity in the chest as the lungs fill the fluid. The third people who develop respiratory symptoms from the disease can die, says CDC.
Despite years of research, Harkins said many questions have been answered, in which it can be relaxed for some people and very serious for others and how antibodies develop. She and other researchers have long been following patients in hopes of finding treatment.
He said, “So many secrets,” noted that the researchers who know is that there is a key in contact with the mouse.
The best way to avoid microorganisms is to reduce contact with rats and their droppings. Use protective gloves and bleach solution to clear mice droppings. Public health specialists take precautions against sweeping or vacuuming that can cause the virus to become air.
Press authors Michael Stobe and Susan Montoya Brian contributed to the report.
This story originally appeared on Time.com read the full story
