Effects/ Symptoms

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The hantavirus causes it's victims' capillaries to leak blood. This can result in failure of vital organs.

The infection of the lungs begins with fever, muscle pain and occasionally diarrhea ad vomiting my also occur. About four to five days later, the victim may start to cough and experience a shortness of breath. Shock my follow from the loss of fluid in the lungs and a decrease in blood pressure. Death almost always follows. Those that do recover may recover completely.

Infection of the kidney may also occur. Infection begins, like the lungs, with fever, headache, backache, and abdominal pain. Three or Four days later, tiny patches appear on the white part of the eyes and on the roof of the mouth. A rash also appears on the abdomen. As kidney function deteriorates, its ability to clean the blood decreases rapidly. This results in a buildup of toxic substances in the blood that could lead to a variety of problems including loss of appetite, fatigue, and nausea. The victim usually recovers after several weeks.

A more severe kidney infection could also develop. Typically, there is a wide-spread reddening of the face much like sunburn. Pinpoint bleeding on the roof of the mouth and later on any part of the skin where pressure is applied develops around three to five days after infection. There is also bleeding of the eyes. After five days, the blood pressure might take a sudden plug and shock could follow. After eight days, the blood pressure returns to normal. The production of urine falls however, but increases at around the eleventh day. After the eleventh day, bleeding may occur in the brain, which results in death.

Fatal infection of the kidney occurs in about 5% of the victims. Some of victims who recover have permanent kidney damage.