Hantavirus 1993
Hantavirus got GH’s wife 2025
GH = George Harrison?
The Plague is bacteriological and can be treated with antibiotics if medical attention is caught early.
The Hanta virus is a virus like the flu and cannot be treated with antibiotics. Instead symptoms are treated with fever reducers and palliative care. Once past the initial symptoms infection moves to the lungs which often is fatal to the patient (hantavirus pulmonary syndrome [HPS]). Mortality is 35-40 percent and survivors can have complications.
Personal story: Due to circumstances I won't detail, this past summer I was suspected of having the virus resulting in a hospital stay. There is a test for the virus but results take up to two weeks to receive. I was tested twice, once in the ER and the second in the hospital. Following review of my case by a virologist, I was discharged after one day. I received the test results after ten days and they had two parts - the first was antibodies indicating Hanta virus exposure and the second was current exposure to the HPS species. I was positive for the first but negative for the second part. Obviously treatment is not to be delayed pending test results and whatever type of flu I had was not the deadly kind.
Plague is common in New Mexico in summer, partly due to prairie dog colonies near large population areas. Friends who work for the health department and trap rodents to test for the plague refer to NM as the “land of the flea and the home of the plague.”