Keelung: Officials in Keelung City on Tuesday reported a suspected hantavirus infection involving a man who was bitten by a rat while at work. At a press conference, Keelung City Health Bureau Director Chang Hsien-cheng stated the patient, a male in his 40s, experienced a rat bite on April 7 and developed symptoms such as a fever and a loss of appetite on May 2.

According to Focus Taiwan, after the man sought medical attention in the city where he resides, his case was reported as a suspected hantavirus infection on May 7-8, with preliminary test results returning positive on Monday. Chang further elaborated that the man had been assisting in cleaning the basement of his workplace, located near an underground parking lot, when he was bitten while attempting to kill a rat he encountered.

The rat was eventually captured, and health officials conducted a sanitation and hygiene inspection at the man's workplace, reportedly a Keelung hospital, on Monday. Meanwhile, the New Taipei City government announced that the infected man, a resident of Linkou, had fully recovered and was anticipated to be released from the hospital later on Tuesday.

Eleven individuals have been identified as contacts of the man, none of whom have exhibited symptoms thus far, according to the city's health department. At the Keelung press briefing, Chang explained that hantavirus typically does not spread from person to person. The nearly month-long period between the patient's exposure and symptom onset is standard for the disease.

The central government is expected to finalize the determination regarding whether the case is hantavirus and to provide further details on its epidemiological investigation. This suspected case arises amid heightened sensitivity about hantavirus, following a recent outbreak aboard the Dutch cruise ship MV Hondius, where three people died, and up to a dozen were infected.

Additionally, recent social media posts alleging an increase in rat sightings in Taipei have raised public concerns. Taiwan typically reports a few hantavirus cases per year. Excluding the suspected Keelung case, Taiwan has recorded 45 hantavirus infections nationwide since 2017, with two confirmed cases so far this year, consistent with recent years. Hantavirus is primarily transmitted to humans through contact with infected wild rodents, with most hantaviruses not spreading from person to person.