"Rodents are infected chronically and they excrete the virus in the saliva, the urine, in the faeces, and can transmit by aerosol, by bite, by contact of the finger on urine and then you rub your eyes or put your finger in your mouth and then you get infected," he said.
The incubation period for HPS is typically two to four weeks after exposure, with a range of a few days up to six weeks. Symptoms include fever, chills, myalgias, cough, headaches and gastrointestinal ailments.
"Unfortunately there is no specific treatment for hantavirus. It is only symptomatic and we know that the people that are treated earlier have a better chance of survival," Dr Rollin continued.
"The mortality is still 40 per cent so four in ten people die of hantavirus and usually very quickly."
However, for those that recover there are no lasting health concerns, according to the disease expert.
