Hantavirus increase in Mordovia , Russia

So far this year, 142 people in Mordovia have been infected with a strain of hantavirus that causes a hemorrhagic fever and kidney failure.

Sfaturi

The reason for the increase in reported cases of this illness may be related to the fact that people like to spend the summer season in suburbs and forested areas where they are exposed to the excreta of rodents that are contaminated with this virus. Dust, food, and hands that are contaminated with the dried urine and excreta of infected rodents are the main source of hanta viruses. People become infected after exposure to aerosolized urine, droppings, or saliva of infected rodents or after exposure to dust from their nests. When the dust is stirred up during cleaning or working in rodent-infested places, people inhale the virus and become infected. Travellers can reduce the risk of exposure to hantavirus infection by avoiding situations that create dust in rodent infected areas.