US reports first Hantavirus death since 2024: Colorado man dies of severe symptoms of hantavirus - How lethal is the strain?
Hantavirus death in US: An adult in Colorado has died after a confirmed case of hantavirus that is not linked to a recent outbreak aboard a cruise ship in the Atlantic. Read on to know how the virus transmits from one individual to another is how deadly the strain is.
Hantavirus Death: Just when the world thought that the pandemic threats were finally over and that life could go back to normalcy, a new and potentially deadly virus is once again raising global concern. Colorado has now reported its first hantavirus-related death since 2024, highlighting the continuing danger posed by rodent-borne infections.
According to the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, an adult from Douglas County died after a confirmed hantavirus infection.
Speaking to the media, the officials also confirmed that the strain that killed the Colorado man is not linked to the current variant that was detected on the cruise ship earlier this month. "Preliminary evidence suggests the infection was acquired by local exposure to rodents," the spokesperson, Hope Shuler, wrote in an email. "The risk to the general public remains low, and the investigation is ongoing."
What Is Hantavirus?
Hantaviruses are a group of zoonotic viruses carried by rodents that can cause severe disease in humans. The incubation can last about six weeks.
While hantavirus cases are being reported after a cruise ship declared its outbreak earlier this month, global experts have noted that it is not new to Colorado. The state is a hantavirus hot spot and reported the second-highest number of hantavirus infections in humans in the U.S. from 1993 through 2023. According to the data, Colorado's 121 cases, including 45 deaths, is behind only New Mexico, with 129 cases and 54 deaths.
Virologists have also stated that hantavirus is not a single virus. It's a whole family of viruses, some with different characteristics than others.
Travel tips during a virus outbreak.
Symptoms of Hantavirus
The World Health Organization (WHO) states in its fact sheet on hantaviruses that in the Americas, hantaviruses can cause hantavirus cardiopulmonary syndrome (HCPS), a severe respiratory illness with a case fatality rate of up to 50% ( ). In Europe and Asia, hantaviruses cause hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome (HFRS)."
In 2025, in the WHO Region of the Americas, eight countries reported 229 cases and 59 deaths, with a case fatality rate of 25.7%. In the WHO European Region, which is much larger than the European Union, 1,885 hantavirus infections were reported in 2023 (0.4 infections per 100,000 people), the lowest rate observed between 2019 and 2023.
In East Asia, particularly in China and the Republic of Korea, hantavirus hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome (HHFRS) continues to account for several thousand cases each year, although such incidents have declined over the past few decades.
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