An outbreak of hantavirus on the cruise ship MV Hondius has highlighted the dangers of this rare but deadly virus, which has no specific treatments or vaccines. Three people on the ship tested positive, with one passenger dying, and two more deaths among five suspected cases. Hantavirus typically spreads through particles from rodent excretions, but some strains, like the Andes virus, can spread between people. This strain is currently causing an outbreak in Argentina, and it’s suspected that some passengers were infected there before boarding. Hantavirus infections, though rare, can have a fatality rate of up to 50%. Virologist Jay Hooper has been working on developing vaccines for hantavirus since the 1980s, but progress has been slow. The unpredictability of zoonotic viruses, like hantavirus, poses ongoing challenges, especially as climate change may increase human exposure to infected rodents.
QUESTION: How might climate change influence the spread of diseases like hantavirus in the future?
There is no vaccine for deadly hantavirus, but this scientist is working on one
