What Are the Transmission Routes of Hantavirus?

The transmission routes of hantavirus include wound transmission, respiratory transmission, digestive tract transmission, arthropod-borne transmission, vertical transmission from mother to child, etc.

1. Wound Transmission: Being bitten by rodents such as mice or other animals carrying hantavirus, or contamination of wounds with hantavirus, can directly cause viral infection.

2. Respiratory Transmission: Hantavirus can be excreted from the saliva, urine, and feces of the host (primarily rodents). If dust is contaminated with hantavirus and inhaled by infected individuals, it may cause respiratory infection.

3. Digestive Tract Transmission: Food and water sources that have been in contact with rodents carrying the virus, if contaminated with the virus or if infected individuals come into contact with the virus due to poor hygiene habits, can lead to the virus entering the digestive tract through ingestion, potentially causing infection.

4. Arthropod-borne Transmission: Studies have found that hantavirus can be isolated from the bodies of certain mites, such as Gamasidae and Chiggers, and it has been proven that trombiculid mites can naturally become infected with hantavirus and transmit the virus through bites. Larvae can also become naturally infected with hantavirus through egg transmission.

5. Vertical Transmission from Mother to Child: Hantavirus can be isolated from the aborted fetuses of pregnant women infected with the virus, indicating vertical transmission of the virus.

Hantavirus infection primarily leads to epidemic hemorrhagic fever, also known as renal syndrome hemorrhagic fever. The incubation period of the disease ranges from 8 to 39 days, with an average of 2 weeks. About 10% to 20% of patients have prodromal symptoms, manifesting as upper respiratory tract catarrhal symptoms such as sore throat and cough, or gastrointestinal dysfunction. Clinically, epidemic hemorrhagic fever can be divided into five stages: febrile stage, hypotensive stage, oliguric stage, polyuric stage, and convalescent stage, but there may be overlapping and crossover between these stages. The main manifestations of epidemic hemorrhagic fever are acute onset, fever, headache, orbital pain, low back pain, drunken appearance, conjunctival edema, hyperemia, and hemorrhage, as well as bleeding points under the armpits. The peripheral blood picture of hemorrhagic fever is characterized by abnormally elevated total and differential white blood cell counts, increased red blood cell counts and hemoglobin levels, and a significant decrease in platelet counts. There are also obvious changes in urine, including elevations in serum creatinine and urea nitrogen, as well as the presence of large amounts of protein in urine tests.