Shaina fell ill in 1993, when she was five years old and attending kindergarten. At first it seemed that he had the flu. The doctor prescribed her antibiotics, but her condition did not improve. It was getting worse and worse for her. She suffered from persistent vomiting, was tired and began to bleed profusely from the anus.
Even after so many years, she did not forget the pains she suffered from. The slightest touch caused her extreme pain. “I have many memories from that time, they are all so traumatic. I have never forgotten that terrible pain,” she describes and continues: “I had a blood rash under my skin. I told my mom that she must not even touch a hair on my head because it hurts so much.”
When she started bleeding from the anus, she ended up in the hospital. There she was tested for meningitis and leukemia. Everything was negative.
“No one knew what it was. Then a doctor came in who said he had been to a seminar on hantavirus and believed that my illness corresponded to this infection,” Shaina describes. Tests were done and they confirmed his assumption.
Although no one has been able to determine where she contracted the infection, she may have been exposed to animal feces while playing in the garden of their country house.
Hantavirus
- It occurs naturally in rodents and can cause serious illness in humans. Infection can lead to two main types of disease: hantavirus pulmonary syndrome (HPS) a hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome (HFRS).
- Humans become infected through infected rodents, especially mice and rats. Either inhales aerosols containing particles of urine, feces or saliva of rodents, or by direct contact with infected material, biting or consuming contaminated food or water.
- Transmission from person to person is rareoccurs in the type of hantavirus referred to as Andes virus.
- Mortality varies according to the specific type of virus. But it reaches up to 50 percent. These deadly types are however extremely rare.
- Infection can lead to pulmonary syndrome. It occurs mainly in North and South America and is very serious. The symptoms are similar to the flu at first, the person suffers fever, fatigue, muscle pain, nausea, vomiting and abdominal pain. Cough and shortness of breath are added later, which can lead to lung failure.
- Another possibility is hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome. It is more common in Europe and Asia. Symptoms include sudden fever, chills and headaches, low blood pressure, kidney failure, bleeding into the skin and mucous membranes.
- The mortality rate of HFRS varies according to the type of virus – for the Hantaan type it is 5 to 10 percentin the Puumala type and Seoul is 1 percent.
- There is no specific antiviral treatment for hantavirus.
Shaina, who is from the suburbs of Los Angeles, was diagnosed with the hemorrhagic variant of hantavirus, which is different from the Andean strain from the Dutch cruise ship MV Hondius.
“When I was diagnosed with the disease, the doctors asked my mother for permission to document my case because it was such a rare disease,” she said. After she recovered, she was under special supervision for the next two years. Her mother had to constantly check her stool to see if she was rectal bleeding again.
Doctors warned her that the disease could affect the function of her kidneys and vision. “Fortunately, I didn’t suffer any long-term effects, but I developed anxiety and a fear of vomiting and pain,” added Shaina.
