Dangers and diseases of rats - Rodent-borne diseases: you don't even have to come into contact with the rodent to catch diseases, an intermediary alone is enough.

Hantavirus pulmonary syndrome

A 26-year-old Canadian woman from the Prairie region was admitted to the intensive care unit due to acute respiratory distress. She was previously in good health and had no significant medical history other than two normal pregnancies and deliveries; she had no allergies, no family history of asthma, and no history of trauma. About a week prior to her admission, she began feeling unwell, reporting a headache and a low-grade fever. The day before her admission, she began having a dry cough, followed by progressive shortness of breath. Upon rigorous questioning, her husband stated that the only unusual activity his wife had engaged in about two weeks before the onset of symptoms was cleaning their old garage, which she had completely cleared out before vacuuming it. She had commented at the time on the abundance of mouse droppings in the garage. An astute clinician sent blood samples to the National Microbiology Laboratory for hantavirus diagnostic testing. Despite intensive mechanical ventilation and conscientious fluid administration, the woman eventually developed considerable pulmonary edema, went into shock, and died 24 hours after admission. Her Sin Nombre virus infection was established by serological and molecular tests, thereby confirming that she had contracted hantavirus pulmonary syndrome.