Hantavirus News: 

Note: We’ve added this section because we are getting LOTS of questions about hantavirus, NOT because we think this is a high risk for any of our readers. Don’t panic! 

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• Some passengers from the cruise ship disembarked weeks ago and returned to at least 5 U.S. states (CA, GA, AZ, TX, & VA). The CDC is working with state and local health departments to do contact tracing now. (YLE CA, CBS)
  
  
• A Dutch flight attendant tested negative for hantavirus after contact with a victim who boarded a plane shortly before they died. The WHO confirmed that the flight attendant’s symptoms were unrelated. (Reuters)
  
  
• But two more possible cases are being reported in Spain and on a remote island that the ship visited. They have not yet been confirmed. (NBC)
  
  
• There are no new cases and no new passengers on the cruise ship showing symptoms. There have been 3 deaths and 5 other cases, for a total of 8 cases. (WHO)
  
  
• The ship will dock in the Canary Islands on Sunday and the 17 Americans on board will be repatriated to the U.S., where they’ll continue to quarantine. (AP)

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Health News:

• Horizon Organic chocolate milk was recalled in 4 states due to faulty packaging that could allow it to spoil. (USA Today)
  
  
• Meanwhile, some Zapp’s and Dirty brand potato chips have been recalled for potential Salmonella contamination. (Utz)
  
  
• There were 45 new measles cases across the U.S. last week, including at the Met Opera in NYC. (Brown Pandemic Center, Gothamist)
  
  
• Moderna’s mRNA flu vaccine was more effective than the standard vaccine in a late-stage trial. (NBC)
  
  
• The U.S. is “highly likely” to lose measles elimination status this fall. (CIDRAP)
  
  
• A Legionnaire’s disease outbreak tied to a California hospital still has an unknown source. (CBS)
  
  
• Cow dung is being blamed for multiple pro cyclists getting ill after a race in Belgium. Manure on the wet roads was being kicked up, and campylobacter is suspected. (Guardian)
  
  
• A new Lancet study shows that fraudulent citations, blamed on AI hallucinations, are exploding in research papers, up 6x since 2023. (STAT)

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Best Question: 

How likely is hantavirus to be a pandemic situation? 

It’s very, very low risk right now to anyone who isn’t (or wasn’t) actually on board the now-infamous cruise ship heading to the Canary Islands. 

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3 people have died and at least one more is in critical condition, with eight total cases. It’s rumored that the initial patient had contact with rodent droppings on a birdwatching excursion, and that one of the cases is the cruise’s doctor, which could indicate person-to-person transmission. 

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Hantavirus is serious and can be very deadly, from 25% to 50% case fatality rate. Things are concerning for those on board, and dozens of passengers who may have been exposed, including some Americans, disembarked from the cruise over a week ago. That means we’re likely to see more cases in the next few weeks. But that doesn’t mean it’s actually very risky for anyone that isn’t on the boat or in direct contact with them. 

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Here’s why we’re not panicking:

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• We know this virus. This isn’t a novel pathogen like COVID-19 was when we first discovered it. This is a relatively well-studied virus that is behaving the way we expect. It hasn’t ever become a major epidemic before, and we don’t expect it will now.
  
  
• Hantavirus requires prolonged close contact for person-to-person transmission. It’s not like COVID or flu, which can spread through the air and short, casual contact. Very close contact - like caring for someone sick, sharing a bed, or being on a small ship together - is usually required for it to spread.
• Hantavirus has a long incubation period. That’s not great, because it means that we’ll probably see more cases before this outbreak ends. But it also means that contact tracing will be very effective. A lot of people might be quarantined and monitored for symptoms, but it’s lower risk for a pandemic.
  
  

Bottom line: we’re not very concerned and we don’t think you should be either. Of course, viruses are really good at adapting, and things can change. As we learn more, the situation could evolve. But for now, we really think this isn’t something to worry about for the vast majority of people. 

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We’ll leave you with this graphic from Dr. Caitlin Rivers (who we cite here regularly) from an Op-Ed in the New York Times. We think it does a great job of summing up just who needs to be worried right now.

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Sources: YLE, Dr. Celine Gounder, Axios, Newsweek, NY Times Opinion

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Best Read:

We’ll leave you with a copy of our own Hantavirus Q&A, available in our ZHH App any time. 

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Zero Hour Health Hantavirus Q&A - Free PDF

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