How dangerous is the hantavirus outbreak?

{"text":[[{"start":9.6,"text":"An international effort is under way to stem an outbreak of infections with a rodent-borne hantavirus that has killed three people and infected at least five others on the cruise ship MV Hondius."}],[{"start":21.299999999999997,"text":"Authorities are scrambling to treat those who have fallen sick, safely disembark other passengers and trace contacts of those who have fallen ill. "}],[{"start":29.849999999999998,"text":"Here the FT explains the outbreak and its implications. "}],[{"start":33.5,"text":"What are hantaviruses?"}],[{"start":36,"text":"Hantaviruses are a relatively rare class of pathogens that have been known for decades. They are carried by rodents and spread by them, normally via their faeces, urine and saliva. They can cause severe symptoms including internal bleeding, respiratory problems and kidney failure. "}],[{"start":53.15,"text":"There are no established vaccines for hantaviruses or remedies for infection by them. Treatments tend to focus on the relief of symptoms. "}],[{"start":60.8,"text":"Reported infection numbers and deaths increased in endemic regions in the Americas last year, particularly in the Southern Cone that includes Argentina, Chile and Uruguay. Experts think this may have been because of a rise in rodent populations. The World Health Organization called for strengthened surveillance, timely diagnosis and proper case management. "}],[{"start":null,"text":"

"}],[{"start":82.05,"text":"Does it spread between humans?"}],[{"start":84.64999999999999,"text":"The pathogen in the Hondius case is the so-called Andes strain, which is the only one known to transmit between humans. Past cases of person-to-person infection have tended to involve close and prolonged contact, via intimate interactions, sharing a household or giving medical care. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, World Health Organization director-general, said on Wednesday that appeared to be the case in the current situation. "}],[{"start":112.14999999999999,"text":"Health experts say the outbreak has some similarities to a cluster seen in Argentina between late 2018 and early 2019. It killed 11 people, with a further 23 infected. The spread is thought to have started from a single infected person who attended a party."}],[{"start":129.25,"text":"One of the difficulties in dealing with hantaviruses is that the incubation period can be very long. Symptoms can take up to eight weeks to appear, previous research has suggested. "}],[{"start":null,"text":""}],[{"start":139.35,"text":"How did people on the ship get it?"}],[{"start":142,"text":"The source is yet to be confirmed but health investigators suspect it is linked to a trip taken before they boarded the Hondius by a Dutch couple who have both since died. "}],[{"start":153.45,"text":"An official in Argentina’s health ministry, who was not authorised to speak publicly, said the couple had been travelling extensively in the country as well as in Chile and Uruguay since November. "}],[{"start":164.85,"text":"They had visited areas where rats known to spread the Andean hantavirus live, WHO officials said. "}],[{"start":172.1,"text":"Argentina has recorded 102 cases since the current virus season began in July 2025, about twice as many as in the previous virus season, and 32 deaths. But several strains of the virus are present."}],[{"start":184.9,"text":"No previous cases had been reported in Tierra del Fuego, the far south province where the couple joined the ship, the Argentine official said. A team of investigators is expected to travel to the province in the coming days."}],[{"start":197.9,"text":"Is this the new Covid-19?"}],[{"start":200.95000000000002,"text":"The outbreak is serious and needs careful management, but health experts have stressed there is no reason to think it will cause another pandemic. The WHO says the risk to the general public is low."}],[{"start":211.95000000000002,"text":"“This is not Covid,” said Maria Van Kerkhove, acting director of the WHO’s department of epidemic and pandemic threat management. “This is not influenza. It spreads very, very differently.” "}],[{"start":224.65,"text":"She added: “We completely understand why these questions are coming . . . But this is not the same situation we were in six years ago.”"}],[{"start":232.3,"text":"Spain is nonetheless preparing to take significant precautions as concern about the planned arrival of the vessel in Tenerife in the Canary Islands grows. Spanish ministers have said the evacuation would be carried out “with no contact with the people of the Canary Islands”."}],[{"start":248.95000000000002,"text":"A challenge that this outbreak does have in common with Covid is contact tracing and supervision. The ship stopped at several Atlantic islands, including St Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha, en route from Argentina. "}],[{"start":263.35,"text":"Oceanwide Expeditions, the cruise operator, said 29 people left the ship in St Helena before the virus was discovered. One was the wife of a deceased Dutch passenger, who flew on to South Africa, where she died. "}],[{"start":276.65000000000003,"text":"Another Covid-era resonance is that the islands, which are British overseas territories, have limited health infrastructure to tackle severe medical problems. "}],[{"start":null,"text":""}],[{"start":287.20000000000005,"text":"Is there a particular risk from cruise ships?"}],[{"start":290.45000000000005,"text":"The outbreak is another example of how ships provide ideal conditions for infectious diseases to thrive and spread. This creates difficulties in stopping the disease on board, tracing contacts and in managing disembarkation of passengers who have yet to show symptoms. "}],[{"start":306.05000000000007,"text":"The Diamond Princess cruise ship made headlines during the early days of the spread of Covid-19 in February 2020. More than 700 of the 3,700 passengers became infected and the vessel had to be quarantined before people could evacuate it. A total of 14 people were reported to have died. "}],[{"start":324.8500000000001,"text":"Later in 2020, almost two-thirds of the 1,767 crew of the French aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle tested positive for Covid, researchers found."}],[{"start":335.50000000000006,"text":"Oceanwide Expeditions said the Hondius medical team first requested testing to determine whether any pathogens were present on April 27, the day a sick guest was evacuated from the vessel at sea. This was two weeks after the first death occurred."}],[{"start":null,"text":""}],[{"start":null,"text":""}],[{"start":352.3500000000001,"text":"On May 4, the evacuated passenger was confirmed to be infected with hantavirus. At that point Oceanwide “immediately upgraded its response protocol, requesting guests follow isolation measures, hygiene protocols, and expanded medical monitoring”, it said."}],[{"start":368.75000000000006,"text":"International health experts are drawing up plans for the safe disembarkation and onward travel of the ship’s passengers and crew, who come from more than 25 countries. All passengers had been asked to stay in their cabins and the cabins have been disinfected, the WHO said.  "}],[{"start":384.50000000000006,"text":"Will there be more viruses like this?"}],[{"start":387.6000000000001,"text":"Hantaviruses are a so-called zoonotic pathogen — capable of transmitting from animals to humans. These are a big source of potential pandemic threats and a main focus of efforts for early detection of emerging diseases. An estimated three out of every four emerging or re-emerging infectious pathogens are thought to be zoonotic."}],[{"start":409.1000000000001,"text":"Coronaviruses like the one that caused Covid-19 are zoonotic. Most scientists think the most likely cause of Covid was a “zoonotic spillover” from a wild creature to humans, perhaps via another animal intermediary. "}],[{"start":422.9500000000001,"text":"All eight of the priority known pathogens named by the international Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations on its website are zoonotic, including Mers, Ebola and Lassa fever. Many zoonotic diseases have no vaccines or effective treatments. "}],[{"start":441.2000000000001,"text":"The threat from zoonotic diseases is growing. It is being driven by trends including more intensive farming, increasing encroachment of people into animal habitats and climate change expanding the range of disease-carrying animals such as ticks."}],[{"start":457.2000000000001,"text":"Additional reporting by Ciara Nugent in Buenos Aires. Cartography by Jana Tauschinski"}],[{"start":469.3500000000001,"text":""}]],"url":"https://audio.ftcn.net.cn/album/a_1778382029_5502.mp3"}