US Health Auth. Monitor "Hantavirus (no Cure) in GA., Ca. and Arizona~Should You Worry?
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| Three sick people aboard the MV Hondius were evacuated on Wednesday.Danilson Sequeira/Reuters |
New York Times
American officials said on Wednesday that residents in three states were being monitored for potential hantavirus infections after being aboard a Dutch cruise ship where there was a deadly outbreak of the virus. None of the people being monitored have shown signs of illness, the officials said.
Since April 11, three passengers who were aboard the MV Hondius have died and five other people have been sickened after showing symptoms of the hantavirus, a rare family of viruses carried by rodents, according to the World Health Organization.
In the United States, at least three states are monitoring residents who were aboard the ship but have since returned home.
The Georgia Department of Public Health is monitoring two residents, it said in a statement. They “are currently in good health and show no signs of infection,” the department said, and they are following recommendations from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The California Department of Public Health was notified by the C.D.C. that California residents had been on the MV Hondius as well, said Robert Barsanti, a spokesman for the department. The agency is assisting local health authorities with monitoring, he said, but did not disclose how many residents were under monitoring. “There is no information that the California residents are ill or infected,” Mr. Barsanti said. “At this time, the risk to public health in California is low.”
The Arizona Department of Health Services received notification that one resident was a passenger on the ship, according to a spokeswoman. “This individual is not symptomatic and is being monitored,” she added.
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| Four people in extensive protective equipment walk next to an ambulance on an airport tarmac. One person, at right, is wearing red equipment. |
Two patients were flown to the Netherlands on Wednesday for medical treatment.Credit...Peter Dejong/Associated Press
The C.D.C. tracks hantavirus cases in the United States. There were 26 cases in 2023, the most recent year with available data. The center has tracked cases since 1993 and has counted a total of 890 in the country since then.
The C.D.C. did not immediately respond to a request for comment Wednesday evening.
Off Cape Verde on Wednesday, three patients were evacuated from the cruise ship, which is now heading to the Canary Islands. Two patients have landed in the Netherlands, where they are receiving medical treatment, according to a statement from Oceanwide Expeditions, the Dutch company operating the cruise.
The third patient was evacuated on a separate flight, the company said.
Most hantavirus strains cannot spread person to person, but the Andes strain, which has been identified in this outbreak, can move between people, according to Bryce Warner, a research scientist at the Vaccine and Infectious Disease Organization at the University of Saskatchewan who has extensively researched hantavirus. The virus does not spread easily, requiring repeated close contact, he added.
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| A drone view of a cruise ship at sea. |
The ship left Cape Verde on Wednesday, en route to the Canary Islands.Credit...Danilson Sequeira/Reuters
The ship, with 150 passengers, will dock in the Canary Islands and undergo an evacuation process. The ship is expected to arrive in three to four days and evacuations are expected to begin on Monday, the Spanish authorities said.
Should You Worry
An outbreak of hantavirus aboard a cruise ship in the Atlantic Ocean has heightened concerns about the rare but deadly virus. Public health officials say that the threat to the general public remains low based on what we know about the virus and how it spreads.
The outbreak involves the Andes strain of the virus.
There are many different strains of hantavirus, said Dr. Gaby Frank, director of the Johns Hopkins Special Pathogens Center in Baltimore. Laboratory testing has shown that the cruise outbreak involves the Andes strain, which is endemic to South America, including Argentina, where the ship departed on April 1. Dr. Maria Van Kerkhove, head of epidemic and pandemic preparedness and prevention at the W.H.O., said the initial cases of hantavirus were in a couple believed to be infected before they boarded in Argentina.
Most forms of hantavirus spread through contact with the feces, urine and saliva of infected rodents, including when humans breathe in particles of the virus. The Andes virus is the only strain known to spread from human to human, though such cases are rare.
Unlike the flu, Covid or even the common cold, it’s exceedingly difficult for the Andes strain to move between people, said Bryce Warner, a research scientist at the Vaccine and Infectious Disease Organization at the University of Saskatchewan who has extensively researched hantavirus.
The flu and Covid primarily spread from the upper respiratory tract and replicate in high levels. Hantavirus sheds less easily, and also burrows deep into the lungs and infects blood vessels. “It’s not very easy for the virus to get out,” Dr. Warner said.
Those at highest risk of person-to-person transmission are people who have been in close quarters for prolonged periods of time with someone who has been infected, like health care workers or those who share a household. Two of the passengers who died on the ship were a married couple. The ship’s doctor showed symptoms of the virus and was evacuated from the ship. It isn’t clear yet how other people on board may have been infected.
Dr. Van Kerkhove has said that some of the cases were in close contact with one another, and that “human-to-human transmission can’t be ruled out.”
Most passengers remain on the ship.
Health officials have not said how those on the ship may need to quarantine when they disembark. They might ask people who were exposed to the infected cases to quarantine, but it’s tricky to keep people isolated for an extended period of time, since it can take between one and six weeks after a person is exposed for symptoms to appear.
The W.H.O. said that health officials have initiated contact tracing for people who may have been exposed to people who left the ship, such as one woman who flew to South Africa for care and who later died.
On Wednesday, health officials said that they were monitoring residents in three U.S. states who had been aboard the ship and have since returned home. None of the individuals have shown signs of illness.
Outside of this outbreak, the virus is dangerous, but rare.
In general, hantaviruses pose a small risk to the general population. There have been a total of 890 cases in the United States since surveillance began in 1993. The vast majority of these have been caused by the Sin Nombre strain of the virus and have occurred west of the Mississippi River, with case counts highest in New Mexico, Colorado, Arizona and California. Of these cases, 35 percent have been fatal.
The Andes virus is not endemic, or native, to the United States, though there have been imported cases from other countries, said Steven Bradfute, an associate professor at the University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center.
Both the Andes and Sin Nombre strains can cause hantavirus pulmonary syndrome, a condition that begins with flu-like symptoms such as fever and chills but can rapidly progress to lung problems and difficulty breathing. There is no drug that can treat the infection, so doctors can offer only supportive care, which might include oxygen or a heart-lung machine. Getting to a hospital quickly and receiving breathing support can improve the chances of survival.
Different strains of the virus circulate in Europe and Asia, where there are thousands of cases each year, but the lethality rate is lower, between less than 1 percent and 15 percent, depending on the strain. Those versions of the virus primarily affect the kidneys. SKIP ADVERTISEMENT
But researchers stressed that the average person should not worry about the virus or necessarily change their daily behavior.
“There’s really no risk to anyone who is not on that ship,” Dr. Warner said.
It’s very different from the early spread of Covid.
Reports of the outbreak might seem similar to the early days of the Covid pandemic, when a mysterious virus was spreading on cruise ships and passengers were being quarantined on board. But experts said that the hantavirus is much more difficult to transmit and has considerably less potential to turn into a pandemic.
“It’s good to be cautious, but there’s no need for concern over a global outbreak,” Dr. Bradfute said.
Dr. Emily Abdoler, a clinical associate professor of infectious diseases at Michigan Medicine, said that past cases of the virus spreading between humans had not resulted in large outbreaks — “nothing even close to the scale of Covid.”
Those at greatest risk can take steps to protect themselves.
Agricultural workers who come into contact with mice and rodent droppings are at increased risk. People cleaning out sheds and garages might also want to be especially careful about mouse and rodent droppings.
You can wear gloves and use a bleach solution or a household cleaner to wet surfaces when cleaning them. Don’t sweep or use a vacuum, which could stir particles into the air that you could inhale. Wearing a well-fitting N95 mask can offer protection against viral particles, Dr. Bradfute said.
People who travel to places where the virus is common and visit rural areas or go camping or hiking should take precautions to minimize exposure to potentially infectious materials. The W.H.O. has a fact-sheet that describes where infections are most prevalent.
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