From fever and chills to muscle pain and difficulty breathing, thus the symptoms of the disease increase Andes strain of hantaviruswhich attacks the lungs and causes hantavirus pulmonary syndrome.
After being exposed to contaminated rodents and having inhaled microscopic particles or aerosols with urine, feces or salivathe first symptoms could appear between one and eight weeks later.
“The incubation period, which means the time that passes between infection and the appearance of the first symptoms, is variable and relatively long: it ranges from one to eight weeks.with an average of two to four weeks,” explains Nancy Sandoval, internist and infectious disease specialist.
This implies that A person may have been exposed to the virus three weeks ago and still feel well while the illness develops..
“That’s why, when investigating a hantavirus case, we ask very carefully about activities and exposures from the last month and a half, not just the previous few days. It also means that Someone returning from a rural area or an expedition trip may come home without symptoms and develop them weeks laterwhich makes the diagnosis difficult if the doctor does not know the epidemiological history,” adds the expert.
Symptoms of the Andes strain of hantavirus:
Hantavirus develops in two phases: prodromal and cardiopulmonarywhich present different symptoms in the infected patient.
The prodromal phase occurs between the first three and five days, and the symptoms can be confused with a bad flu or gastroenteritis:
- Sudden onset of high fever
- Shivers
- Intense muscle pain, especially in the thighs, hips and back
- Headache
- Nausea, vomiting and abdominal pain
The cardiopulmonary phase occurs between the fourth and sixth day, and can become dangerous:
- Progressive shortness of breath
- Feeling of suffocation or lack of air, which can cause shock within a few hours
- The lungs fill with fluid, known as pulmonary edema
- The heart may fail or stop
- The main warning sign is fever accompanied by shortness of breath that progressively worsens, which constitutes a medical emergency.
“This deterioration can be so rapid that in 24 or 48 hours a patient who ‘just had a fever’ needs mechanical ventilation and management in a critical area.”, warns Sandoval.
Hantavirus patients can survive with proper treatmentalthough There is no specific medication that directly eliminates the virus.
“Hantavirus infection cannot be managed at home and, once the diagnosis is established or considered a suspected case, requires hospitalization. In moderate or severe cases, admission to an intensive care unit must be made,” says the infectious disease specialist.