Why the hantavirus outbreak is different from the COVID-19 pandemic
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The cruise ship MV Hondius stationary off the port of Praia, the capital of Cape Verde, on May 4. Photo: AFP via Getty Images
The outbreak of a deadly virus aboard a cruise ship may sound like a familiar story — but while it's a serious scenario, public health figures aren't anticipating the next global pandemic.
The big picture: The hantavirus has left travelers isolating in their rooms, sparked a diplomatic debate about where the ship should port and launched a contact-tracing scramble.
- The Andes strain of the virus, which health authorities have identified as the culprit on the cruise, is the only one known to be capable of transmission between humans.
- Three deaths have been reported and several others have fallen ill after the outbreak on the ship that embarked from Argentina early last month. So far, the World Health Organization (WHO) says eight suspected or confirmed cases connected to the ship have been reported.
- U.S. officials in at least five states are monitoring returning passengers' symptoms, but no cases have been confirmed, The Washington Post reported.
Yes, but: Health authorities are unequivocal: This is not COVID 2.0.
- Abdirahman Mahamud, the WHO's director for Health Emergency Alert and Response Operations, said at a Thursday press conference that "if we follow public health measures" and lessons learned from the prior hantavirus surge that hit Argentina in 2018, "we can break this chain of transmission."
Context: That doesn't mean the virus shouldn't be taken seriously. WHO officials are urging cross-border collaboration to trace and contain the spread. And they warn that with the virus's weeks-long incubation period, more cases are possible.
- Infections are rare, but come with a fatality rate of up to 50% in the Americas, per WHO.
Still, WHO officials assessed that there is no current risk of a COVID-like spread.
- "This is not COVID, this is not influenza," said Maria Van Kerkhove, WHO's acting director for epidemic and pandemic management, said at Thursday's press conference. "It spreads very, very differently."
- Transmission, health experts said at Thursday's WHO conference, has been associated with close, prolonged contact, such as between household members, intimate partners and people providing medical care.
The three deaths were all ship passengers. Four others aboard the ship were later evacuated, one to South Africa and three to the Netherlands for medical treatment and observation.
- A fifth case involving a ship passenger was confirmed in Switzerland. The passenger reported to a local hospital following an email from the cruise informing him of the outbreak and later tested positive.
- A Dutch flight attendant is reportedly also being tested for hantavirus after one of the victims boarded a flight shortly before her death.
Zoom in: Carlos del Rio, a professor at the Emory University School of Medicine, said in a separate Thursday press call with the Infectious Disease Society of America that even with low risk, the outbreak provides an opportunity to learn more about a rare virus.
- "Research to help us develop vaccines and develop treatments is urgently needed," he said.
- The U.S. walked away from WHO under the Trump administration, which has also directed a massive reordering of the nation's public health apparatus, including the CDC and NIH.
The bottom line: WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said that outbreaks like these show why health security is a universal effort.
- "The best immunity we have is solidarity," he said. "Viruses don't care about our politics and they don't care about our borders."
Go deeper: Why new doctors aren't specializing in infectious diseases
