Hantavirus. ( BSIP/UIG Via Getty Images ) A man in China who died on Monday reportedly tested positive for hantavirus, leading officials to test an additional 32 people who had traveled on a bus with him before his death, Global Times reported.
The rat-borne illness, which U.S. health officials say cannot be transmitted from person-to-person, is typically passed to patients when they breathe in air contaminated with the virus through rodent droppings.
It’s also possible to contract the virus through a bite from an infected rodent, or if people touch something that has been contaminated with rodent urine, droppings or saliva and then touch their own nose or mouth.