Like being sick, but worse.
(1) The sound that death makes when it has you by the tail.
(2) A respiratory disease spread by bushrats and deer mice and such, one that you get a from bites or after breathing aerosolized urine, saliva, or feces. (Aerosolized feces — think about that for a while.)
First you get exposed, and then between one and five weeks later some flu-like symptoms begin. And then the hemorrhagic fever and pneumonia. Hemorrhagic fever is, euphemistically put, leaking blood vessels, as in when they disintegrate, if you can call that "leaking".
Kills your kidneys too: sixty percent fatal.
If you want to try this one on, you can find lots of mice in trail shelters.
(3) Or...
Hanta baby, slip a disease under the tree, for me
So sweet, you see
A raging red hemorrhage, for me, for me
Hanta baby, hurry down to the shelter tonight
Think of all the fun I'll miss
But all the ghosts I'll kiss
Next year I could be oh so dead
If you check me off your list
Boo doo bee doo
Hanta honey, I wanted a yacht, not really a lot
I was an angel all year, but now death is so near
Hanta baby, hurry down to the shelter tonight
Hanta cutie, there's one thing I really do need, the deed
To a cemetery plot
Hanta baby, hurry down to the shelter tonight
Hanta baby, my lungs are filling with goo
I think it took my kidneys too
Hanta baby, hurry down to the shelter tonight
Come and trim my funeral tree
With some decorations bought at Tiffany's
I really do believe in you
Let's see if you believe in me
Boo doo bee doo
Hanta baby, forgot to mention one little thing,
A ringing in my ear, so clear
'Cause death is so near
Hanta baby, hurry down to the shelter tonight
(After, but presumably not infringing on the original lyrics:
https://bit.ly/3m2SQMW)
(4) In other words, a respiratory disease, one carried by little skittering critters.
The disease that the virus causes is more formally called "Hemorrhagic Fever With Renal Syndrome" (HFRS), after the Hantan River area in Korea, where the virus was first isolated.
Symptoms are indeed flu-like and do take one to five weeks to appear, except that unlike flu, this disease has a fatality rate of 60 percent, as noted. (And never forget: Life is uncertain, so eat dessert first.)
See tabs at the top for definitions and books.
Have extra info to add?
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Me? Trading in my mouse-racing team for a set of sanitized tapeworms. (Better safe than sorry, or, um...something?)