Hanta Pulmonary Syndrome

Hanta Pulmonary Syndrome The Hanta Pulmonary Syndrome (HPS) is a disease that has emerged in North America only recently. Its source is a virus carried by rodents, particularly the deer mouse, and transmitted by direct contact with their droppings. Symptoms appear within the one to six weeks of initial exposure, and initially include muscle aches, fever, and other flu-like symptoms. After a while, the victim may experience shortness of breath and coughing resulting from decreased …

…checking for signs of rodent infestations, and minimizing factors that attract rodents. The potential threat of this deadly pathogen is frightening, and quite real. Its lack of spread so far is only due to the relatively small range of its primary carriers, mice. However, much as the black plague was carried everywhere on the backs of rats, this has the same capability to infect many people as soon as it hits a major population center.