After coronavirus, Hantavirus claims 1 life in China; but what is it?

All heads turned to China once again for a brief moment when a person from the country died due to Hantavirus

A man who tested positive for Hantavirus in China died on March 24. It is reported that 32 other people in China have been infected with this disease.

The one death in China caused social media to panic, with users alleging that Hantavirus is another coronavirus to kill the world.

An English language newspaper, wrote on Twitter on Tuesday, "A person from Yunnan Province died while on his way back to Shandong Province for work on a chartered bus on Monday. He was tested positive for hantavirus. Other 32 people on bus were tested."

Centre for Disease Control and Prevention said in its website that the humans who contract the Hantavirus usually come into contact with rodents (saliva or faeces or urine) that carry the virus. Rodent infestation in and around the home remains the primary risk for Hantavirus exposure. Even healthy individuals are at risk for HPS infection if exposed to the virus, the report added.

According to India Today, the virus was named as Hantan virus, after the name of the river Hantan. This initial discovery dates back to scientific approaches that were initiated after the Korean war (1951-1953), during which more than 3,000 cases of Korean haemorrhagic fever were reported among United Nations (UN) troops.

In 1981, a new genus termed as "hantavirus" was introduced in the Bunyaviridae family, which included the viruses that cause haemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome (HFRS).