, their diagnosis was delayed due to the impact of Covid on healthcare, as a public health investigation lasted nearly nine months after their deaths. In a report by the CDC, it was stated Covid slowed down the response for other diseases, such as the diagnosis of respiratory illnesses, due to their similar clinical nature to Covid. The rat disease is transmitted predominantly by infected rodents shedding the virus through saliva, urine, and faeces. In Mexico, six patients in 2023 have been diagnosed with the disease, with two of them dying, and the other four reporting breathing difficulties. They were placed into intensive care before later returning home. Dr Chad Smelser, a New Mexico Department of Health Deputy State Epidemiologist said: 'Everyone in New Mexico should learn about hantavirus infections and take the necessary steps to minimise possible exposures. 'The key to preventing infections is to avoid exposure to rodents and their nests.' Hantavirus pulmonary syndrome is a rare disease primarily transmitted by infected rodents through saliva, urine, and faeces. The strain of hantavirus known as Sin Nombre virus was first identified in 1993 in deer mice (Peromyscus maniculatus) in the Four Corners region of the southwestern United States. A total of 81 human cases of hantavirus){kind=link}
A Native American woman, and her son, who lived on the White Mountain Apache Reservation in Arizona, US, experienced a rapid decline in their health after they were diagnosed with rat-borne Hantavirus pulmonary syndrome
An investigation into a deadly rat disease which killed a mum and her 11-year-old son was delayed nine months due to the Covid pandemic, medics have revealed.
A 25-year-old Native American woman, and her 11-year-old son, who lived on the White Mountain Apache Reservation in Arizona, US, experienced a rapid decline in their health after they were diagnosed with Hantavirus pulmonary syndrome in March, 2020.
According to the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), their diagnosis was delayed due to the impact of Covid on healthcare, as a public health investigation lasted nearly nine months after their deaths.
In a report by the CDC, it was stated Covid slowed down the response for other diseases, such as the diagnosis of respiratory illnesses, due to their similar clinical nature to Covid.