An Arizona mother and son have died after contracting a deadly rat-borne virus.
The mother, who was not named, suffered a fever, coughed up blood and had rapid, shallow breathing for a week before succumbing to the illness.
Her son had a fever for only three days before vomiting and collapsing in the night. Doctors pronounced him dead the next day.
Tests showed they were both infected with Hantavirus, which kills one in three people and is picked up by touching surfaces contaminated with rodent feces.
The mother and her son were infected with the Hantavirus, which is transmitted by rodents. It was not clear when the infection occurred
The pair were Native Americans living on a reservation.
Humans can become infected with Hantavirus when they touch surfaces contaminated with rodent feces and then touch the sides of their mouth or nose.
About one to eight weeks after infection, patients usually experience fever, muscle aches, headache, nausea, and fatigue.
Four to 10 days later, the disease progresses to shortness of breath and a feeling like a “tight band around the chest and a pillow over the face.”
The disease affects the blood vessels in the lungs, causing them to leak and fill the lungs with fluid. This can lead to suffocation and death.
Doctors treat the disease using ventilators to make sure patients get enough oxygen and drips to make sure they get enough nutrients and stay hydrated. Medications may also be administered to help manage pain, fever, and other symptoms.
Each year, approximately 800 Americans fall ill with the disease, and it is estimated to kill 300 as well.
The dead were revealed in the Weekly report on morbidity and mortality (MMWR).
Both fatalities occurred in March 2020, when Covid gripped the US.
Scientists said in the report that it was important to consider other diseases during a pandemic.
The mother, who was 25 years old, had lived in a four-house home — a place large enough to house four families — on the White Mountain Apache Reservation, in eastern Arizona.
She regularly traveled 200 kilometers to visit her son, who was 11 years old, who lived in a separate family home.
He had stayed with her in February 2020, the report said, but had returned to the family home in March. He visited his mother’s house about once a month.
The mother would have become short of breath on March 12, 2020.
However, she stayed in a casino from March 13 to 17 and also cleaned her apartment on March 18.
But the next day, she was rushed to the hospital after she also started having stomach pains and started coughing up blood.
Doctors reported that she had a fever of 38.3°C and also experienced rapid and shallow breathing.
They initially thought she was suffering from exposure to cleaning chemicals, but scans showed damage in her lungs that “suspiciously” resembled that of Hantavirus.
She was intubated and transferred to another hospital for further treatment, but died the following day, March 19.
Her son started to feel warm, but had no fever on March 18.
Two days later, he vomited and woke up in the night due to breathing difficulties before collapsing and becoming unresponsive.
He was rushed to hospital but was pronounced dead the next day.
Tests showed he was positive for Covid, while his mother tested negative for the disease.
Samples were sent to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), with tests done in July showing they both had hantavirus.
The disease can be transmitted by the deer mouse, which lives in Arizona, as well as the white-footed mouse, marsh rice rat, and cotton rat.
It can be transmitted to humans through contact with rodent feces and then their mouths, as well as air contaminated with steam from rodent feces.