Hantavirus likely to be fully contained but may take time, Hanage says - Harvard Gazette

"The public health focus surrounding the deadly hantavirus outbreak on the Dutch cruise ship MV Hondius is now turning to preventing onward transmission, as the 18 American passengers of the vessel arrived in the U.S. on Monday and most of the rest of the travelers are either en route to or back in their home countries. The World Health Organization reports eight cases and three deaths as of May 8. Hantavirus is deadlier, case-by-case, than COVID, but is significantly harder to spread, according to William Hanage, professor of epidemiology at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health."

"Eighteen people, including one who tested positive, are being monitored in the U.S. How dangerous is this? There have been three deaths so far, which sounds like a lot for the number of exposures we know about. The numbers that float about are around 40 percent base fatality. But it's always difficult to be sure, because there could be milder cases that we don't recognize amid the chaos of an outbreak. But it's certainly toward the more severe end of the range."

"They talk about it being passed by close contact. What is close contact? What we know is that it seems to require reasonably extended contact with a person who is sick and is shedding virus. One of the cases of transmission was to the doctor on the cruise ship who was attending the index case. Not knowing anything about the precise course of illness, it's easy to see how a doctor treating an extremely sick patient on a cruise ship is going to be in contact with them, probably in a poorly ventilated space, for quite some period of time and without knowledge of the per"

The hantavirus outbreak on the Dutch cruise ship MV Hondius is shifting toward preventing onward transmission as travelers return to their home countries. The World Health Organization reported eight cases and three deaths as of May 8. Eighteen American passengers, including one positive case, are being monitored in the U.S. Hantavirus is described as deadlier on a case-by-case basis than COVID, but it is harder to spread. Transmission appears to require reasonably extended close contact with a person who is sick and shedding virus. A documented transmission involved a doctor on the cruise ship who treated the index case, likely in a poorly ventilated setting for a prolonged period without knowing the illness course.

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