The Hanta Virus

The Hanta Virus doesn't get a whole lot of respect these days as bioterror threats have attracted most people's attentions to the "designer diseases" such as Anthrax, Ebola and Smallpox, but this week I've decided to recognize the Hanta Virus as one of the most badassed of all viral infections. The most diabolical thing about the Hanta Virus is that when you contract it at first it just feels like you have the flu, and then you feel better, then you die. You don't even see it coming. You're just going along, telling everyone you're going to pull through and then all of a sudden fluid seeps into your lungs and it's Respiratory Failure City. It's like the viral equivelant of being blindsided by a bus right after you've been released from the hospital.

First discovered when it started affecting UN soldiers during the Korean War, Hanta Virus is transmitted through mouse and rat feces and is also present in the vapors of their saliva and urine, so if you do manage to contract it you had better have a good explanation or else you will be mocked incessantly by your friends right up until your horrible death.

Only the most badass diseases contain the vicious one-two punch of being both degrading and potentially fatal.