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01/07/25 Public Education Topic: Hantavirus

Health Department

Per CDC:

Hantaviruses can infect and cause serious disease in people worldwide. People get hantavirus from contact with rodents like rats and mice, especially when exposed to their urine, droppings, and saliva. It can also spread through a bite or scratch by a rodent, but this is rare.

Hantaviruses cause two syndromes. Hantaviruses found in the Western Hemisphere, including here in the U.S., can cause hantavirus pulmonary syndrome (HPS). The most common hantavirus that causes HPS in the U.S. is spread by the deer mouse.

Hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome (HFRS) is a group of clinically similar illnesses caused by hantaviruses found mostly in Europe and Asia. However, Seoul virus, a type of hantavirus that causes HFRS, is found worldwide, including in the United States.



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