Over the past few days, almost everyone I know has experienced an unpleasant sense of déjà vu. Phrases like “zoonotic virus,” “human-to-human contact,” “contact tracing,” and “self-isolation” are being heard more and more frequently. The WHO is issuing regular statements. The feeling is eerily similar to 2020.
Only this time, instead of coronavirus, the headlines are dominated by Hantavirus. The focus is no longer on ski resorts in Italy, but on a Dutch cruise ship, the MV Hondius. Eight cases of the rodent-borne disease have now been linked to the ship, five of which have been confirmed in the laboratory. Three deaths have been recorded so far since the ship set sail from Argentina in early April. Photos of medical personnel wearing hazmat suits and full protective gear as they evacuate passengers with suspected symptoms, and the news that two Britons are self-isolating at home after possible exposure on the ship, are bringing back buried memories from the beginning of the pandemic. So are the endless maps tracking the ship’s movements, or the incredibly detailed discussions on social media by “armchair epidemiologists.”
It is understandable that this outbreak is bringing back these unwanted memories, along with a quiet but internal anxiety.
While we might like to believe that the COVID-19 pandemic is now a thing of the past, many of us are still dealing with its psychological consequences. And any mention of a new zoonotic disease, a disease that jumps from animals to humans, inevitably raises fears of another pandemic. Since Covid, it seems we’re all on a constant state of alert for “the next disease.” A similar reaction was seen earlier this year during the meningitis outbreak in Kent, when pharmacies reported shortages of vaccines due to high demand. But before we rush to buy toilet paper in bulk again, how worried should we really be about hantavirus?
While there are still many questions about the outbreak on the ship, one thing has been made abundantly clear by health authorities: despite the emotional similarities, this is a very different situation than what we saw six years ago with Covid. The risk to the general public remains very low.
What is it and should we be afraid of hantavirus? Hantavirus is a group of viruses carried by rodents such as mice and is usually transmitted through contact with their urine or feces. This often happens when people clean up rodent droppings and particles become airborne and are inadvertently inhaled. The virus can also be transmitted through bites, open wounds or eye contact. It is thought that around 150,000 cases are recorded worldwide each year, and more than half usually occur in China. These viruses are divided into two main categories, which cause serious illness, although both begin with flu-like symptoms: fever, muscle aches, headache and dizziness.
Former Hantaviruses: Most common in Asia and Europe, these viruses can cause hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome (HFRS). Symptoms usually appear one to two weeks after exposure and can lead to severe kidney failure. The mortality rate ranges from 1 to 15 percent.
Newer hantaviruses: Most common in the Americas, these can cause hantavirus pulmonary syndrome (HPS). The incubation period is longer, from one to eight weeks, and the disease can cause fluid to build up in the lungs and chest, leading to serious heart and breathing problems. In this form, the mortality rate can reach nearly 40 percent. There are currently no vaccines or specific treatments for either form of the infection. Patients with severe cases may require intensive care, respiratory support, or dialysis. In most cases, hantavirus is considered a “non-exiting infection,” meaning that an infected person usually does not transmit the virus to others.
There is only one known variant that can be transmitted from person to person: the Andes virus, found mainly in Argentina and Chile. In 1996, an outbreak of this variant began in the city of El Bolsón in Argentina and then spread to other cities, including 16 epidemiologically linked cases.
Another major outbreak occurred in 2018 in the village of Epuyén, when an infected man attended a birthday party shortly after being exposed to the virus. Some of the people who had been around him then spread the disease to other crowded events. The final toll was 34 infections and 11 deaths.
Patients on the MV Hondius have tested positive for the Andes variant, while there is unconfirmed speculation that the outbreak may have started after a birdwatching expedition near a debris field in Ushuaia, on the southern tip of Argentina. However, experts emphasize that this variant is also transmitted only through very close contact. “We are not talking about casual contact from a distance,” Dr. Maria Van Kerkhove of the World Health Organization recently declared. While Professor Robin May of the UK Health Security Agency emphasized that “a quick pass by someone at the airport does not put you at risk.” For the general public, the risk remains practically negligible.
In fact, most scientists agree that hantavirus does not spread efficiently enough from person to person to become a pandemic. Even in a confined environment like a cruise ship, where passengers constantly share space and contact, the number of people infected remains limited. Viruses can mutate, but experts believe that hantavirus would have to undergo major evolutionary changes to become a real global threat. So if words like “tracing,” “isolation,” or “airborne transmission” have been making you anxious since the pandemic, experts are almost unanimous: A “Covid 2.0” scenario with hantavirus is, at least for now, highly unlikely.