Key Background
Global fears about hantaviruses—a group of rare, often fatal viruses usually spread to humans through contact with rodents—have spiked in the last month since an outbreak was reported onboard a cruise ship sailing near Antarctica called the MV Hondius. The illness is thought to have been brought aboard by an elderly Dutch couple, both of whom have since died, and it later spread to roughly one dozen people who’d made contact with other infected people. The hantavirus variant, called Andes, is the only one known to transmit from person to person and those who develop symptoms have a mortality rate of 38%. Since the outbreak was discovered, passengers from the MV Hondius have returned to their home country where they’re undergoing various quarantine and isolation measures for a full 42 days—the incubation period of the Andes virus. More than one dozen Americans, none of whom have developed symptoms, were quarantining at a facility in Nebraska until some chose to go home on May 25. They will have to finish quarantining at home. Some chose to stay in Nebraska for the full 42-day period.
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Big Number
890. That’s how many hantavirus cases were reported in the United States from 1993 to the end of 2023, the latest CDC data available. Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, Washington and California have had the most cases, and hantavirus is much more widespread in the Western United States than the east.
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Surprising Fact
In those 30 years, nine states have never registered a hantavirus case: Alaska, Hawaii, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina, Ohio, Kentucky and Missouri.
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Further Reading
ForbesHantavirus Patients Under Quarantine Could Go Home—If They Agree To 24/7 Surveillance, Report Says (Latest Updates)By Mary Whitfill RoeloffsForbesWorld Isn’t Ready For Another Pandemic And ‘Moving In The Wrong Direction,’ WHO Report SaysBy Mary Whitfill RoeloffsForbesNo, Ivermectin Is Not Proven To Treat HantavirusBy Mary Whitfill Roeloffs