hantavirus

In 1982, a study in Baltimore tested local rats and found that every rat over the age of two had the virus in their system (Garrett 539). Then individuals from two STD clinical-hospitals were tested and four cases of the Korean Hantavirus were found. The researchers took it one step further by testing the blood of humans that were undergoing proteinuria blood chemistry analysis as well as kidney dialysis patients. Amazingly they discovered that 6.5% of the patients on dialysis had serum that reacted with Seoul hantavirus antibodies indicating that there had been an infection at some point.
             Cases of hantavirus continued to pop up throughout the United States. A Mexican immigrant died of internal hemorrhaging and kidney failure, and the disease was tied to a new strain of hanta: the Leaky virus. Not only was the disease infecting southwestern U.S., but also deep in America's inner cities. With the increase of rats in the cities, that increased the likelihood of the hantavirus infecting people. .
             But on May 14, 1993 there was something new that was infecting Navajo Indians in the Four Corners Area. This disease struck people quickly and it left them behind with lungs so severely fluid-filled that they weighed twice as much as normal (Garrett 529). Symptoms generally started similar to the flu: fever, muscle aches, and headaches. After a few hours or up to two days, the symptoms escalated to coughing and irritation in the lungs. Then within a few hours, the patients would become so hypoxic that they would be unable to absorb oxygen. Slowly, the heart would stop and death would follow either caused by cardiac failure or pulmonary edema. By May 14th, there was a list of five healthy people who had died from this disease. When the lab work returned it showed no signs of plague bacteria in the victim's blood. Worried, the head scientist pushed people to look through the medical records of all the recent unexplained respiratory deaths.