Symptoms:
The symptoms of Hantavirus will undergo a set of phases with the increase in severity of the condition. Both in cases where the condition is fatal and in cases where convalescence does occur, the disease will take roughly a month to run its course. This course will include a transition from symptoms that resemble a strain of the influenza virus to more debilitating symptoms attacking lung, heart and kidney function. According to the research provided by Duchin et al. (1994), also offered in the wake of the Southwestern U.S. outbreak, "the most common prodromal symptoms were fever and myalgia (100%), cough or dyspnea (76%), gastrointestinal symptoms (76%), and headache (71%). The most common physical findings were tachypnea (100%), tachycardia (94%), and hypotension (50%)." (Duchin, 949) These findings would be gathered through autopsies of the first 17 victims of this outbreak, and demonstrated the condition to generally lead to 'rapidly progressive pulmonary edema.' (Duchin, 949)
Treatment:
Treatment remains the area of Hantavirus most in need of advancement. While our knowledge of the condition and its causes have improved, there yet remains a sharp gap between our ability to diagnose and our ability to treat this condition. The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) (2010) notes that while there is no specifically effective or known treatment for Hantavirus, "we do know that if infected individuals are recognized early and receive medical care in an intensive care unit, they may do better. In intensive care, patients are intubated and given oxygen therapy to help them through the period of severe respiratory distress." (CDC, 1)
In addition to this early-detection treatment courses which is recommended to ease pain and mitigate the high possibility of mortality, the most essential modes of treatment are prevention, identification and containment. An infectious disease which occurs in clusters but which is not generally transmitted by human interaction, Hantavirus can be contained when it is recognized. Therefore, the observation of transmission signs is important as a way of locating the threat and eliminating it through proper quarantine and rodent extermination. More importantly, education regarding sanitary living conditions and the expenditure...
Referring back to the study by Duchin et al., the sample considered demonstrated a 76% fatality rate as a result of the virus. These fatalities would generally be attributed to pulmonary failure, a cause specific to the Southwestern U.S. strain, where the advanced stages of the virus are referred to as Hantavirus cardiopulmonary syndrome (HCPS or HPS). In other contexts, hemorrhagic fever and cardiac or renal failure are outcomes of the virus, and are also fatal. Where Hantavirus is concerned, the only positive prognosis may be in extremely early identification and immediate hospitalization. Failure to do so in the early phases of the disease produces an almost certain prognosis of fatality. Thus, it bears reiterating that the only true way to address the threat of Hantavirus is through prevention by way of responsible environmental maintenance, safe and proper extermination and effective public education in hygiene, sanitation and waste disposal. As a public health problem with fatal implications, the prevention of Hantavirus should be considered a priority in all contexts where poverty and squalor threaten to facilitate its emergence
Works Cited:
Centers for Disease Control (CDC). (2010). All About Hantaviruses. National Center for Infectious Diseases-Special Pathogens Branch.
Duchin, J.S. et al. (1994). Hantavirus Pulmonary Syndrome: A Clinical Description of 17 Patients with a Newly Recognized Disease. New England Journal of Medicine, 330, 949-955.
Nichol, S.T. et al. (1993). Genetic identification of a hantavirus associated with an outbreak of acute respiratory illness. Science, 262(5135), 915-917.
Schmaljohn, C. & Hjelle, B. (1997). Hantaviruses: A Global Disease Problem. Emerging Infectious Diseases, 3(2), 95-104.
Zaki, S.R. et al. (1995). Hantavirus pulmonary syndrome. Pathogenesis of an emerging infectious disease. American Journal of Pathology,…
