Hantavirus Pulmonary Syndrome Treatment and Prevention

How Hantavirus Is Treated

There is no specific treatment for hantavirus infection. Supportive care, often provided in an intensive care setting, can help address symptoms. The earlier the intervention, the better the prognosis generally will be. Supportive care may include administering fluids, supplemental oxygen, fever reducing medications and monitoring and addressing cardiac functioning. Most patients will need to be intubated and placed on a ventilator to assist with breathing and managing lung fluid. In the most severe cases, patients may undergo extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO). This entails continuously pumping your blood through a machine, which removes carbon dioxide and adds oxygen, before returning your blood back to your body.

Sometimes antiviral drugs, such as ribavirin, are used to treat other strains of hantavirus and associated infections. No large trials have proven them to work, but physicians may consider compassionate use in very severe cases.

Recovery can be slow and take several weeks or even months. Patients often complain about weakness, fatigue and impaired exercise tolerance.

Preventing Hantavirus

The best approach to HPS is preventing it by minimizing exposure to rodents.

• Seal up, by using cement or other patching material, holes or cracks where rodents may gain entry to your home or work environment. Rodents can get through openings that are much smaller than you think.
• Identify potential nesting sites and carefully clean up debris, clear vegetation and trap rodents to remove them. When cleaning up, wear protective gear and be extremely careful not to stir up the virus by sweeping waste and debris. Instead, wet down dead rodents and areas where rodents have been with alcohol, household disinfectants or bleach before using a towel to remove the debris. Then mop the area with disinfectants.
• Open and aerate any closed rodent-infested spaces before entering them. Wear a respirator when cleaning buildings with heavy rodent infestations.
• Heavily infested areas should be brought to the attention of the relevant state or federal health officials before cleaning.