The last time I wrote about the rat-borne illness hantavirus, it was after iconic actor Gene Hackman died of heart disease, with Alzheimer’s disease as a contributing factor.
The report indicated he passed alone and was abandoned in his home after his caretaker wife had died suddenly of a hantavirus.
The disease is back in the news, as a hantavirus outbreak has occurred on the Dutch-flagged cruise ship MV Hondius, causing several severe illnesses and at least three deaths.
Health officials in at least a dozen countries, including the U.S., are tracking dozens of passengers who traveled aboard the cruise ship at the center of a deadly hantavirus outbreak.Those passengers have dispersed across the world and were in five states as of Thursday afternoon: Arizona, California, Georgia, Texas and Virginia. Health officials in those states said the former passengers, who are not being publicly identified, have not shown any symptoms.Despite the widening international response, World Health Organization officials say the outbreak is not the start of a new pandemic or epidemic….The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has said it and the State Department are closely monitoring the status of Americans on the ship, adding that “risk to the American public is extremely low.”
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has classified this as a “Level 3” emergency response.
The designation is the lowest level of emergency activation, signifying that the risk to the general public remains low — in line with information given by the World Health Organization earlier Thursday.The CDC is actively monitoring the situation, including by activating the emergency centers, sources told ABC News Thursday.This typically signals that a designated emergency team has been set up to handle hantavirus, the outlet reported. Epidemiologists, scientists and physicians may be reassigned to monitor and assist with the disease response.
One has to wonder about the conditions aboard this ship. Hantavirus is a rare but potentially deadly virus spread by rodents through their saliva, droppings, and urine..so one has to wonder exactly how these cruisers were exposed.
Hantavirus infection can occur one to eight weeks after exposure. Initial symptoms resemble the flu, but as the virus multiplies in the body, it can attack the lungs and cardiovascular system. The fluid build-up in the lungs, heart damage, and lowered blood pressure can result in sudden organ failure.
American passengers are now being monitored by state public health authorities.
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.
Presently, there are no vaccines for this relatively rare disease. However, the development of something effective for this pathogen is likely years away.
Experts say hantavirus vaccine efforts have repeatedly stalled, in part because outbreaks tend to occur sporadically and disproportionately affect poorer countries where there is less incentive for drugmakers to invest.“Our funding agencies don’t put a lot of money into this, because it’s likely not to cause the next epidemic or pandemic,” said Sabra Klein, a professor in the molecular microbiology and immunology department at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. “But these are hemorrhagic fever viruses, so when they occur, they’re scary, and they do wreak havoc.”The founders of EnsiliTech, a U.K.-based biotech company, began work on the vaccine 15 years ago.“We looked at hantavirus and saw it was pretty neglected,” said Matt Slade, a company co-founder and its chief of staff. “There wasn’t really any work in the sector.”
It’s doubtful that hantavirus has morphed into a super-spreader. What likely happened is that, in the race to cut corners and serve more passengers for better profit margins, housekeeping efforts were as thorough as needed.
In conclusion, if this outbreak tells us anything, it’s that even in an age of high-tech monitoring and global health coordination, the basics still matter.
While officials insist the public risk remains low, the idea that paying passengers could be exposed to a rodent-borne pathogen on a supposedly well-managed vessel raises uncomfortable questions about sanitation standards, oversight, and the relentless push for profit over prudence.
Hantavirus may not be the next pandemic, but it is a stark reminder that when routine hygiene and accountability slip, nature has a way of exploiting the gap—often with deadly efficiency.
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