Hantavirus vs COVID-19
Both diseases cause severe respiratory illness. Key differences: hantavirus has a much longer incubation (weeks vs days), thrombocytopenia and haemoconcentration are hallmarks of HPS (unusual in COVID-19), and exposure history points to rural rodent contact rather than community transmission. ANDV is the only orthohantavirus that transmits person-to-person, which is rare and requires close household contact.
| Hantavirus (HPS) | SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) | |
|---|---|---|
| Family | Hantaviridae | Coronaviridae |
| Initial symptoms | Fever, severe myalgia, headache, GI | Fever, cough, fatigue, anosmia, GI |
| Incubation | 1–8 weeks | 2–14 days |
| Predominant organ damage | Lungs (non-cardiogenic oedema) + heart | Lungs + multi-organ |
| Case-fatality (severe disease) | 30–50% (ANDV) | ~1–4% (varies by variant + age) |
| Transmission | Rodent aerosol; ANDV person-to-person | Airborne person-to-person |
| Treatment | Supportive ICU, ECMO; ribavirin (FHSR only) | Antivirals (paxlovid, remdesivir), steroids |
| Vaccine | Hantavax (HTNV only) | mRNA, viral vector, protein subunit |