Why Hantavirus Isn’t a Pandemic Threat: Health Experts Weigh In

The U.S. is gearing up to welcome home citizens who were on the MV Hondius cruise ship, which has been affected by an outbreak of hantavirus. Health authorities announced on Friday that these passengers will be flown back to the U.S. on a medical evacuation flight and are expected to arrive at an Air Force base.

Evacuation efforts are underway for the passengers of the ship, currently anchored near Spain’s Canary Islands. According to the Associated Press, Spanish nationals were the first to disembark, followed by passengers from France and Canada. Meanwhile, a Dutch aircraft is set to transport individuals from Germany, Belgium, and Greece. The American evacuation flight is scheduled to land on Sunday evening.

Since the outbreak began, three people have unfortunately lost their lives, and there have been five confirmed cases of hantavirus among passengers who previously disembarked.

Slideshow: Passengers from MV Hondius evacuating

Although none of the remaining 140-plus individuals aboard the ship are showing hantavirus symptoms, they will still be placed in quarantine as a precautionary measure. Upon arrival at Offutt Air Force Base in Omaha, Nebraska, the American passengers will be transferred to the National Quarantine Center at the University of Nebraska, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Additionally, contact tracing efforts are in full swing.

While this situation may remind some of the early COVID-19 pandemic days, health experts emphasize that hantavirus is not expected to have a similar impact. The CDC reassured the public on Friday, stating that “the risk to the American public remains extremely low.”

The World Health Organization shared a similar sentiment last week.

“This is not COVID, this is not influenza,” infectious disease epidemiologist Maria DeJoseph Van Kerkhove said during a press conference.

Van Kerkhove noted several differences between COVID and hantavirus while speaking with reporters on Thursday. Namely, COVID-19 was a novel virus, or a strain we had not seen before. Hantavirus has been around “for quite a while,” Van Kerkhove said.

The U.S. has been tracking hantavirus cases since a 1993 outbreak in the Four Corners region. That year, more than 50 cases of hantavirus were reported nationwide, including more than 30 across Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico (no cases were reported in Utah, according to the CDC). Roughly 30 people died in the outbreak, with at least half living in one of those three Western states.

Through 2023, the most recent data year available, the CDC has confirmed nearly 900 hantavirus cases in the U.S. For comparison, state tallies of COVID cases were well within the thousands during various points of the pandemic.

There’s also a major difference in how hantavirus and COVID spread, Van Kerkhove noted.

Hantavirus, found throughout the world, is spread by contact with rodents or their urine or feces. In the U.S., deer mice are considered the most common carriers. Unlike COVID, hantavirus does not typically spread between people.

However, the Andes virus, the hantavirus strain found on the cruise ship, is capable of spreading from human to human. According to the CDC, spread is typically limited to those who have had direct physical contact with an infected person, exposure to their body fluids, or spent a prolonged time with them in close or enclosed spaces.

“We haven’t had huge person-to-person spreads of hantavirus infection ever before, and there’s no reason to suspect a huge outbreak from this case at this point,” Steven Bradfute, an associate professor and associate director of the Center for Global Health at the University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center, which specializes in hantavirus research, told the AP.

CDC acting Director Dr. Jay Bhattacharya said last week that the virus cannot be spread by those who do not have symptoms either. The Andes virus is more commonly spread through contact with rodents found in South America.

The best way to avoid the germ is to minimize contact with rodents and their droppings. Use protective gloves and a bleach solution for cleaning up rodent droppings. Public health experts caution against sweeping or vacuuming, which can cause virus particles to get into the air.

Symptoms may at first appear much like the flu, said Dr. Sonja Bartolome of UT Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas. “Early in the illness, you really may not be able to tell the difference between hantavirus and having the flu.”

An infection can rapidly progress and become life-threatening, sometimes causing a deadly lung infection known as hantavirus pulmonary syndrome. Betsy Arakawa, the wife of actor Gene Hackman, and multiple California residents died after contracting the syndrome last year.

The other syndrome caused by hantavirus — known as hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome, which can cause bleeding, high fever, and kidney failure — usually develops within a week or two after exposure.

Death rates vary by which hantavirus causes the illness. Hantavirus pulmonary syndrome is fatal in about 35% of people infected, while the death rate for hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome varies from 1% to 15% of patients, according to the CDC.

There is no specific treatment or cure for hantavirus, but early medical attention can increase the chance of survival.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.