All posts tagged: Hantavirus

We Now Know How Many People the CDC Is Monitoring for Hantavirus

We Now Know How Many People the CDC Is Monitoring for Hantavirus

Published by Miika Tikkanen

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is monitoring a total of 41 people in the US for the Andes hantavirus after a cruise ship was hit with a rare outbreak but that the risk to the public remains low. This includes a group of 18 passengers from the cruise ship who are now in quarantine facilities in Nebraska and Georgia, according to health officials. The agency is also monitoring passengers who returned home before the outbreak was identified and others who were exposed during travel, specifically on flights where a symptomatic case was present. “Most people under monitoring are considered high-risk exposures, and CDC recommends that everyone under monitoring stay at home and avoid being around people during their 42 day monitoring period,” David Fitter, incident manager for CDC’s hantavirus response, told reporters during a media briefing on Thursday. “We emphasize not to travel across all these groups.” The Andes virus is a strain of hantavirus found in South America that can be transmitted from person to person. Typically, hantavirus is passed to humans …

WHO chief says ‘work not over’ after hantavirus evacuation

WHO chief says ‘work not over’ after hantavirus evacuation

Published by Sam Flores

“FOLLOW THE ADVICE” Tedros said he hoped countries would “follow the advice and recommendations we are making”, acknowledging that nations were free to decide their own health protocols. French Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu called on Tuesday for “closer coordination” on health protocols within the European Union. The MV Hondius presented diplomatic challenges as different countries negotiated over who would receive it and treat its passengers. Cape Verde refused to receive the ship, which remained anchored offshore the capital Praia as three people were evacuated to Europe by air last week. Spain allowed the vessel to anchor off the Canary Islands for the evacuation of passengers and crew on Sunday and Monday, but the Atlantic archipelago’s regional government fiercely opposed the measure. Defending his government’s policy, Sanchez said the “world does not need more selfishness or more fear. What it needs are countries that show solidarity and want to step forward”. The MV Hondius left the island of Tenerife with a skeleton crew on Monday and will be disinfected upon arrival in the Netherlands on Sunday. …

Hantavirus ship evacuation nears completion as 94 flown home

Hantavirus ship evacuation nears completion as 94 flown home

Published by Sam Flores

A complex day-long operation to repatriate occupants of a cruise ship struck by a deadly hantavirus outbreak neared completion late Sunday after 94 people of various nationalities were flown home from Spain’s Canary Islands. Three passengers from the MV Hondius — a Dutch husband and wife and a German woman — have died, while others have fallen sick with the rare disease, which usually spreads among rodents. No vaccines or specific treatments exist for hantavirus, which is endemic in Argentina, where the ship departed in April. Source link

Could Contact-Tracing Apps Help With the Hantavirus? Not Really

Could Contact-Tracing Apps Help With the Hantavirus? Not Really

Published by Miika Tikkanen

After three people died on a cruise ship struck by a hantavirus, authorities are actively tracking down 29 people who had left the ship. They’re trying to trace the spread of the virus. It’s a long, arduous, global process to find and notify people who might be at risk of infection. Hey, wasn’t there supposed to be an app for that? Contact-tracing apps were a global effort starting in 2020 during the Covid-19 pandemic. Enabled by phone companies like Apple and Google, contact tracing was designed to use Bluetooth connections to detect when people had come in contact with someone who had or would later test positive for Covid and report as much. It didn’t do much to solve the spread of the pandemic, but tracking the virus became more effective at least. The same process wouldn’t go well for the hantavirus problem. “There is no use of apps for this hantavirus outbreak,” Emily Gurley, an epidemiologist at Johns Hopkins University, wrote in an email response to WIRED. “The number of cases are small, and …

‘Not another Covid’: Hantavirus ship docks at Tenerife | World | News

‘Not another Covid’: Hantavirus ship docks at Tenerife | World | News

Published by Sam Flores

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, along with Spanish Health Minister Monica Garcia and Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska, arrived on the island of Tenerife on Saturday to help calm locals ahead of the vessel’s arrival, and to help coordinate the disembarkation efforts. Tedros issued a direct statement to assure the people of Tenerife that, despite lingering fears left over from the 2020 pandemic, “this is not another Covid”, and the public health risk of contracting hantavirus is still very low. Hantavirus can cause severe illness and is generally contracted by inhaling contaminated rodent residue, making transmission between people difficult. Yet, the specific Andes virus detected in this outbreak may be able to spread from person to person in rare cases. The Dutch-flagged cruise ship that has spent last week exiled at sea, stricken down by an outbreak of the deadly hantavirus outbreak, has now officially docked in Spain, more than a week after authorities were first alerted to the medical emergency on board, The MV Hondius, which has more than 140 passengers and crew on board, …

Hantavirus: Stop The Spread Is Back

Hantavirus: Stop The Spread Is Back

Published by Jenni Sidey

Via the Brownstone Institute, Hollywood loves a good sequel and so does politics and pharmaceutical development.  Since Covid, there have been several attempted disease scares – Mpox, Swine flu, Bird flu, Chikungunya, Measles – but nothing has really caught the attention of audiences like the new Hantavirus frenzy.  Today’s evidence comes from DRUDGE REPORT: global effort to stop the spread. Is “flatten the curve” next? Let’s remember how this began last year, with of course, a hantavirus death in the family of one of America’s most beloved Hollywood actors. It was Betsy Arakawa, Gene Hackman’s wife, who died February 12, 2025, from apparent hantavirus infection from rodents in the home. Terrifying image.  At that point, no regular person had ever heard of such a disease. There is a reason. It’s rare and human-to-human spread is nearly unknown. Strange that it would hit the wife of the appropriately named Gene Hackman (get it?), leading man of the prescient 1998 movie Enemy of the State.  Next up we have a reprise of the Plague Ship motif. Like …

Contact tracing could prevent the spread of hantavirus

Contact tracing could prevent the spread of hantavirus

Published by Sam Flores

Contact tracing is the public health tool that keeps diseases contained. Health workers reach out to those individuals who were exposed to someone who has a contagious disease to monitor their health and to prevent further spread. lakshmiprasad S/iStockphoto/via Getty Images hide caption toggle caption lakshmiprasad S/iStockphoto/via Getty Images An international team of disease detectives is now racing to connect with the more than two dozen passengers who disembarked the MV Honius cruise ship on the Atlantic island of St. Helena before the hantavirus outbreak was identified. These individuals have flown across the world, including to the United States. The risk of further spread of this virus is low since it requires close and prolonged contact with an infected individual — and those infected seem to transmit the virus for only a brief period of time. But public health officials want to make sure the outbreak is contained. Here’s how authorities are using the practice of contact tracing to contain the outbreak and keep the hantavirus from spreading. Contact tracing 101 The concept of modern …

Hantavirus outbreak is not ‘another COVID’

Hantavirus outbreak is not ‘another COVID’

Published by Miika Tikkanen

As authorities attempt to track down at least 29 passengers of the MV Hondius who departed the ship after the first fatality on 24 April, the World Health Organisation has categorically stated that “this is not the start of a pandemic.” A global race is underway as authorities attempt to locate at least 29 passengers of 12 nationalities who disembarked a cruise ship after an outbreak of hantavirus killed three and left five others falling seriously ill. The Dutch cruise ship was to visit Antarctica and several islands, departing from Argentina on 1 April and had a capacity of 196 passengers and 72 crew. Around 150 passengers were present on this particular voyage, with passengers mostly from Europe and the USA and staff from the Philippines. What is Hantavirus? The term refers to a group of viruses primarily carried by rodents. One particular strain, the Andes virus, is found mostly in South America and has confirmed cases of zoonotic transmission- from animals to humans. Andes virus is the predominant cause of hantavirus pulmonary syndrome (HPS), …