Hantavirus is the name of the disease that is spreading across the world. The disease’s origins started out innocuously, aboard the MV Hondius cruise ship, where passengers started complaining to ship doctors of fever and chills. By April 11, the first death occurred. Since then, there have been a total of three deaths and nine confirmed cases as of May 12th.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the cases presented symptoms like shortness of breath, a pneumonia-like onset, gastrointestinal symptoms and fever.
Hantavirus presents in two different ways:
Afflicted individuals may be affected by symptoms of hantavirus pulmonary syndrome (HPS). This affects the lungs and can cause symptoms like fatigue, fever, and muscle aches, and in some cases, headaches, dizziness, chills and abdominal problems.
On the other hand, individuals may sense a completely different category of afflictions. This is categorized as hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome (HFRS). HFRS affects the kidneys, with symptoms including intense headaches, back and abdominal pain, fever/chills, kidney failure and a lack of blood flow.
Hantavirus is transmitted between humans through close contact, and symptoms typically appear 4-42 days after initial exposure.
The specific strain of the virus afflicting the Hondius passengers is labeled the Andes hantavirus, the only strain transmitted to humans. For the most part, hantavirus is contained to mice, rats and other rodents. It is suspected that the virus was initially contracted by an elderly American couple aboard the cruise. They were potentially exposed to the Andes strain while searching for a rare bird in southern Argentina’s Patagonia, in a region nearby a landfill where they were inhaled dust of rodent saliva, urine, or feces. These individuals have passed away since.
While this disease is deadly, it is rare and nowhere near as contagious as COVID-19, which launched our two-year shutdown in the past. In fact, officials have been quick to disillusion hantavirus from the COVID scenario.
Steven Bradfute, an associate professor and associate director of the Center for Global Health at the University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center, which specializes in hantavirus research, stated that, “We haven’t had huge person-to-person spreads of hantavirus infection ever before, and there’s no reason to suspect a huge outbreak from this case at this point.”
Another important distinction to note between the new virus and COVID is the fact that COVID was previously unresearched and extremely uncommon.
The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have stated, as of May 8 that, “The U.S. government is actively monitoring and responding to a hantavirus outbreak linked to the M/V Hondius cruise ship” and that “at this time, the risk to the American public remains extremely low.”
So where are the passengers of the MV Hondius right now?
So far we know that 18 passengers from aboard the Hondius arrived in the United States where they are now being kept at a specialized facility in Nebraska. The remaining 147 people, 87 passengers and 60 crew members, sailed to the Canary islands and are being transported by WHO to eight different countries, namely, the U.S., Canada, UK, Netherlands, France, Ireland, Spain and Turkey.
Unfortunately, 32 passengers disembarked from the cruise on April 24th and traveled to different countries before the outbreak was properly realized. Investigations are underway and six individuals were recognized to be from the US.
Amongst Washington residents, there are three potential cases of hantavirus being monitored. One individual is a passenger of the cruise and is being quarantined in Nebraska with the other exposed passengers. The other two individuals, both from the same household, are residents of King County. They were exposed to the disease when an afflicted individual was removed from their flight two seats away and are under quarantine and monitoring as well.
The CDC advises avoiding the spread of disease between people by:
- “Washing hands frequently
- Avoiding kissing and sexual contact with someone who may have Andes virus
- Avoid sharing drinks, cigarettes, hookah, and vapes with someone who may have Andes virus
- Avoid sharing eating utensils or eating food from the same plate or bowl as someone who may have Andes virus
- Maintaining distance from someone who may have Andes virus”
Right now, there isn’t much to do besides sit tight and wait for new information to be released. Officials still maintain that a COVID level threat is not the case here, however a clear risk is definitely outlined by the disease’s mortality.
