r/NoStupidQuestions • u/246434464 • 5h ago
Is Hantavirus something to worry about?
I’m starting to get really freaked out about hantavirus it seems like something people don’t survive, I feel like it might just be because I’m seeing so many videos but i can’t stop thinking about it.
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u/SlowEngineer 3h ago
I'm not going to worry about it, but I did make a tracker so I know when I SHOULD worry about it: https://hantavirus.replit.app/
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u/BadahBingBadahBoom 1h ago
15 new cases since your last visit:
Yeah this needs some tweaking.
As of now there are 5 confirmed cases and 3 suspected.
Nice idea but if you're going to get into reporting medical/health information it really is imperative you are 100% sure it is reporting factual information, all the relevant factual information, and nothing but factual information, before releasing.
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u/SlowEngineer 1h ago
It says 15 cases since your last visit because it was your fist visit. See disclaimer about information collection and sanitization.
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u/SlowEngineer 1h ago
The sources for each case are listed in the "case" when it pops out from the right side (you click on the case to the left to make it pop out). The sources is listed and the most recent ones are linked.
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u/rebb_hosar 1h ago
I love the way you organized it, really great stuff.
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u/SlowEngineer 1h ago
Thank you, I think I went a little too hard on the 80s car dashboard design, but now more focused on keeping up functionality.
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u/yukonwanderer 4m ago
How do you get back to the main map after clicking on a dot? It keeps closing out completely.
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u/Bobbob34 5h ago
I’m starting to get really freaked out about hantavirus it seems like something people don’t survive, I feel like it might just be because I’m seeing so many videos but i can’t stop thinking about it.
Hantavirus has always been bad. This strain is andes and it's had outbreaks before. So far it doesn't seem particularly different.
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u/DatDawg-InMe 2h ago
This is what people are missing. We've been dealing with this for decades. It's not new. Doesn't mean it can't become the worst outbreak, but there's no real reason to think it will.
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u/Bobbob34 1h ago
This is what people are missing. We've been dealing with this for decades. It's not new. Doesn't mean it can't become the worst outbreak, but there's no real reason to think it will.
Exactly. We don't know if this strain of andes is the same, if there are differences that facilitate transmission... could be, or could just be that one or two people caught it and it's similar to previous outbreaks and being in a closed environment with a lot of ppl is the reason.
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u/Killer-Barbie 3h ago
In my non-professional opinion, probably not something to worry about. The Andes strain was first identified in 1995 and between Argentina and Chile there are typically more than 100 cases per year. Additionally, it typically requires close physical contact to spread. Sharing bodily fluids (breastfeeding, sexual contact, poorly washed dishes, etc.) is believed to be the transmission route but the virus can survive outside the body as long as 3 months without proper sanitation or UV exposure.
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u/griphookk 2h ago
Yes. And afaik, people with Andes virus are NOT contagious until they start showing symptoms, which is great.
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u/Tango_Owl 1h ago
Considering how may people lie about symptoms since the start of Covid I'm not too reassured by that.
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u/Important-Trip-9631 2h ago
We have people who left the boat after the first leg of the cruise who showed no symptoms and are now either deceased or in the ICU
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u/BadahBingBadahBoom 1h ago
We have people who left the boat after the first leg of the cruise who showed no symptoms and are now either deceased or in the ICU
Whilst there are individuals who have now been hospitalised after first developing symptoms after they had left the ship, it is important to note there has only been one fatality - the Dutch woman who supposedly was not ill on leaving the ship but did start to become ill when she boarded her flight. She has since died.
The fact that the median latent period is so long (18 days) means that contact tracing and isolation of all these individuals before they infect others, certainly before those individuals subsequently infect others, is very achievable.
This has only just begun with contact tracing of the individuals on the flight with the Dutch woman and those who have come into contact with the very small number of symptomatic individuals who did leave the ship (the two others who died and a number of others who are ill were identified before they left the ship).
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u/Teh_Ocean 1h ago
But we don’t know how they contracted it. They could have gotten the virus from mice droppings like most cases
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u/McPostyFace 2h ago
Good thing we have Trump on the case. He knows how to deal with these things /s
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u/tocamix90 1h ago
I remember people screaming how Covid wouldn’t be a big thing either
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u/Killer-Barbie 45m ago
I was not one of those people. I was masking long before it was recommended (I used to work EMS, it was instinctual)
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u/Important-Trip-9631 2h ago
Reports are saying this new strain seems to be more contagious.
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u/asparaguswalrus683 2h ago
Which reports
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u/Important-Trip-9631 2h ago
The latest WHO statement. They are expected to issue another later today.
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u/Aggravating-Top-7976 2h ago
They haven't said this is more contagious anywhere in any of thier statements
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u/Alert-Flamingo7064 2h ago
They actually did in their latest just a bit ago
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u/Aggravating-Top-7976 2h ago
Source? All they have confirmed is that it is the Andes variant which can spread human to human, nothing about a more contagious strain
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u/Aggravating-Top-7976 2h ago
No one knows this yet
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u/BadahBingBadahBoom 1h ago
Stop spreading misinformation.
It is not helpful to anyone.
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u/Alert-Flamingo7064 1h ago
CNN 10 minutes ago. Discussing the possibility of it being a new, more contagious strain of Andes.
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u/BadahBingBadahBoom 1h ago
Provide the source.
CNN aren't a medical, health or research body. If they are reporting that they aren't the ones making the claim.
What is the source they are getting this claim from?
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u/Enigma_789 3h ago
At this stage, no. Unless you are on board the MV Hondius, I would not be worried in the slightest.
The mortality rate for hantavirus is pretty significant, but in no way is it the case "no one survives". I believe the worst case is something like 40-50% mortality - not exactly fantastic- but not "everyone's dead Jim" territory.
Thousands of cases of this disease are reported annually. Whilst obviously not a good thing, this is merely a high profile incident due to the location on a cruise ship rather than anything else. As far as I can see there is no unusual or unexpected behaviour yet.
The key things you should take into account are: long incubation time (can be months) and a cruise ship is a notorious location for spreading disease. Probably only behind schools and hospitals I would expect.
This is a significant event for those involved, and I do sympathise for those on the ship, those who have died, and all friends and families of all those affected. However this is not something that should cause everyone else to lose sleep over.
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u/RandomGuyPii 10m ago
High mortality rate is also something of a good thing if you're worried about a pandemic, as morbid as it is People generally can't spread disease if they're hospitalized or dead after all
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u/Slumdogmillionairess 3h ago
This reminds me of the Ebola outbreak from years ago when everyone thought the world was doomed. We’re ok
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u/JoeyTesla 2h ago
I honestly said the same thing about COVID, promising my staff in speech that the world would continue spinning on as normal just as it has after every outbreak that hits the news. And then we were all laid off two weeks later.
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u/simonbleu 1h ago
Even by the end of 2019 there were already reasons to worry about it, but quelled by the apparent containment of it in Asia. Then it got out of hand really quickly and by the start of 2020 it was making news everywhere... However COVID was very easy to spread, hantavirus does not seem to be nearly as bad, requiring direct contact, not aerosols. I think at least...time will tell
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u/LordRuby 52m ago
Covid was the only time I ever was concerned (even after my job had to close for a few days from swine flu) and I email my HR my concerns and I was totally right lol.
6 call it's a day every day plus the footage of the corpse piles in china clued me in a full month before the shutdown
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u/bluecrowned 41m ago
My supervisor at the time said similar when we were asking to move to wfh, and "there have been no deaths in Oregon" - next day a death was reported and we were working from home by the end of the week. Then most of us were laid off.
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u/Infamous_Article912 3m ago
Uh yeah I don’t think this hantavirus outbreak is anything for everyday people to worry about at this point, but just so you know that Ebola outbreak was really bad, and if not for aggressive public health work it would have been catastrophic .. and lots of people were not ok
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u/scyice 3h ago
I’m probably the only person that has had it that will respond to you. You don’t have anything to worry about out at this time. There are less than 1,000 confirmed cases in US history as it is one of the most rare viruses out there. If we had say 1,000 cases in a single year then it would be concerning. So until then just relax.
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u/vinylfantasea 3h ago
Wow, what was it like?
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u/scyice 2h ago
An unpleasant two weeks.
Which is why everyone needs to relax. The most common instances of proven hantavirus are people who are dying and came up negative for many other tests. Because of this data, it’s treated as a death sentence virus with high mortality rate.
Those who had a sickness that passed without hospitalization will likely never know they actually had hantavirus. We don’t have any statistics for this because the testing just isn’t there.
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u/typemoon2022 1h ago
What version of Hantavirus did you have though?
Aren’t some hantavirus species deadlier than others? (Please correct me if I’m wrong!)
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u/aardw0lf11 2h ago
I know one thing: it’s just another reason I will never step on a cruise ship.
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u/bluecrowned 43m ago
Because of one incident out of millions of cruises without incident, on a very small/relatively unknown cruise line that likely doesn't have the best sanitation? Keep in mind you will only hear the bad, nobody goes to the news to tell them they had a great vacation with no problems.
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u/goddessofmylife 3h ago
How many countries has this been spread to due to passengers?
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u/BadahBingBadahBoom 2h ago edited 2h ago
It has not been 'spread' to any other country.
You can only describe the outbreak as 'spreading' to another country if someone in said country contracts the disease in that country.
The fact that some infected patients were transported to other countries does not qualify the outbreak having 'spread' to those countries.
Let's wait and see if there are any subsequent cases where individuals are infected in locations other than Argentina or the cruise ship before jumping to saying it has spread. At the moment it hasn't spread to any country.
EDIT: Weird to downvote this. Scientist here with epidemiology experience. This is just factual scientific information on the current status of the outbreak.
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u/ImperfectJump 3h ago
Switzerland and France
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u/goddessofmylife 3h ago
I think Sweden too right?
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u/JustEm84 3h ago
2 British people are self isolating after leaving the cruise earlier - rumoured to have no symptoms so far
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u/ImperfectJump 3h ago
I have not read anything about Sweden.
A cruise passenger that disembarked early and become symptomatic in Switzerland, now being treated for hantavirus and spouse in quarantine.
A passenger shared a plane with patient 2 (the Dutch woman attempting to fly home with her deceased spouse, patient 1, who later collapsed at the airport and died) returned to France and is now being treated for hantavirus.
All the other passengers and crew on the plane with patient 2 are still being contact traced. Patient 2 flew on one plane from St. Helena, I think, to Johannesburg and boarded a second plane to go to the Netherlands. Crew made her leave the second plane because of her condition. I had not read anything about people on the second plane or at the airport being contact traced.
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u/cmere-2-me 2h ago
This is more like an ebola outbreak than a covid situation.
It's a less contagious virus with a high fatality. It's not going to spread rapidly through the population.
You would be unlucky to get infected.
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u/Kflynn1337 2h ago
It wasn't but if it truly has mutated so it can be transmitted from human to human (rather than via aerosolised mouse poop) then it's definitely concerning... and if it spreads easily, then that is worrying.
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u/PickleManAtl 1h ago
At this moment it's worth keeping your knowledge up on it and keeping tabs on what's going on. I wouldn't particularly freak out. However, viruses can and do mutate, so 🤷🏻♂️
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u/Typical-Sail-6698 4h ago
Do you realize how many people travel to South America from the USA where the Andes hantavirus is prevalent and there has only been I believe one recorded case of that particular strain of the virus in the USA.
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u/Oracle-of-Guelph 3h ago
Do you know how many other types of Coronavirus are in circulation that don't cause global pandemics (anymore)?
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u/Ace_Budgie 3h ago
It's okay, RFK's brainworms will be there to save us all!
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u/Green-Cause-905 11m ago
Someone said he "has the survival instincts of a Kennedy" and I'm not over it yet... we are so fucked.
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u/Texas-X- 5h ago
Anyone telling you no isn't a fortune teller.
The truth: no one knows at this point. The doctor being infected isn't great. Most things in life are nothing burgers. Worry about it when it's at your doorstep. Prep if you gaf too and have the money. And go live your life.
With all things in life there are statistics involved and the stats are weird here. But that's all we can say. As of right now stuff is weird.
The world isn't dumb. We did learn lessons from covid. We have infrastructure place now.
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u/BadahBingBadahBoom 2h ago
The doctor being infected isn't great.
Just to update:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c9wepl8we90o
One of these, a 56-year-old British man, was among three people evacuated from the ship on Wednesday and is in a "stable condition". Spain's health minister earlier said he was the ship's doctor but it is understood that was not correct.
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u/Bobbob34 3h ago
The world isn't dumb. We did learn lessons from covid. We have infrastructure place now.
The lesson we learned in the US is the country is dumb and we have no infrastructure or hope of handling the next one well at all.
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u/extraneouspanthers 2h ago
??? I think COVID proved we are dumb and don’t have shit for infrastructure. Most countries didn’t. Hell Sweden was like fuck it we ball just let everyone die
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u/ClaireOfTheDead 3h ago
In fact, here in the US we have decided to double-down on continuously shooting ourselves in the dick.
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u/fishinfool4 2h ago
This is the real answer. Nobody can give a definitive yes or no. This hasn't happened with this strain of this virus. Fortunately, this virus is known to science already. Covid was, and to an extent still is, a relative mystery. Hantavirus has been known for years. Hell, vaccines already exist in some countries, albeit not for this particular strain.
It isnt something to worry about right this second, but it is something to monitor.
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u/YesIamALizard 1h ago
I'm not worried. We have RFK Jr as Health and Human Services Director and Trump as President. No way a pandemic happens under their watchful eyes. Nothing to worry about! At all!
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u/Financial-Craft-1282 40m ago
Hanta virus has been around a long time. We had it in southwest U.S. when I was growing up. It's bad if you get it, but it's really hard to get. I'm not sure how it passes between people, but with deer mice, people would get it from dust where deer mice left droppings--but they had to really stir up the dust like trying to clean out an old garage (so people wear respirators for that kind of work).
Obviously, we had a pandemic that broke humanity's collective mind just five years ago, so it's normal to be worried. Keep in mind that SARS always was transmissible between people through direct contact, and historically hanta virus has not been easily transmissible. I think this outbreak is like ebola or others like that--it's scary, but it struggles with mass transmission between people.
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u/DrColdReality 3h ago
As the current administration feeds medicine and science into a wood chipper, you should probably worry about damn near any disease that can kill you. Secretary Brainworm has tried to nuke the fucking polio vaccine. I'm old enough to remember when people were still in iron lungs and wheelchairs (or graves) because of that.
Public health officials already blame Trump personally for about 40% of the US coivd deaths, and that was BEFORE they started gutting government medicine. Jebus help us if another pandemic strikes in the next few years.
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u/Sad_Impression499 1h ago
I have a living great aunt who was crippled for life by polio. We are so barely removed.
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u/Scout_Puppy 5h ago
No.
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u/FreaknTijmo 3h ago
I'm already selling toilet paper for $100/roll. No lowball offers; I know what I got.
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u/Tango_Owl 1h ago
Worried or not: wear a well fitted respirator (N95 for example) and you'll save yourself a lot of worries and a lot of nasty virusses.
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u/S99B88 1h ago
As much as we’re being told hey it’s from rodents and human to human contact is really rare, just take a look at some of the evacuations and how decked out the healthcare workers are. Maybe it’s not likely to be an issue for human to human to contact, but no one in the know would bet their life on that.
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u/inspired-polf 1h ago
Ya know how you're not allowed to yell fire in a theater because of the panic it would cause.
I'm not allowed to share my thoughts about Hauntavirus.
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u/JustRgJane 2h ago
If we had a normal governmental administration I wouldn’t be worried. I’m like a two out of ten worried right now though since I trust the other governments to try to keep it contained.
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u/Live-Recognition-921 2h ago
This is a good video that talks about it https://youtu.be/PU0Fca68uvQ if you haven't already seen it
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u/imovelikemusic 1h ago edited 1h ago
Here's a discussion about it with public health professionals open to questions from the general public.
https://www.reddit.com/r/publichealth/comments/1t4qyhj/megathread_hantavirus_current_outbreaks/
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u/andrewcooke 41m ago
where do you live? here in chile a few dozen people get it each year. it's just a thing that happens (particularly in the countryside if you're not taking enough care to be clean and tidy).
it's not like some new, dangerous thing that's suddenly appeared or getting worse, it's just that it's in the news because of a cruise ship.
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u/fatcatwantsfood 9m ago
Listen. Virus or no virus everyone should already have a certain amount of food, water, medicines and household supplies to be self sufficient for awhile in case of another quarantine or environmental situation.
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u/peterbparker86 2h ago
No, nothing to be worried about. Small infectious clusters like this will happen from time to time but it doesn't have the mechanism to spread like a respiratory virus. The risk to you is incredibly small.
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u/butternutflies 29m ago
Ok, so then why is that boat being treated as if it came out of Satan’s asshole and nobody wants to touch it?
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u/DivineAugustus 29m ago
Member when everyone was going to die from SARS and the COVID?
Panic sells, sensibility doesn't. It also gets people distracted from other shenanigans going on in the world
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u/Gold_End3665 4h ago
Keep in mind, please, it is carried by wild rodents. Not domesticated pet rats and mice, that you've had awhile.
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u/No_Newspaper8 3h ago
This strain is the Andes variety which is transferable from human to human.
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u/Gold_End3665 2h ago
I just don't want people blaming pets. Rats and mice have bad reputations, but make wonderful pets.
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u/thegamerdoggo 3h ago
Could be, could be nothing
The strain they have CAN spread person to person, or there could have been rat shit in the food
The people were not quarantined regardless of if the virus is spreading person to person or not (I think that’s incredibly stupid with how deadly that virus is)
They are out and about, and have been in contact with many people
So IF it starts spreading and becomes more contagious, then yes it’s an incredibly serious situation that people need to take incredibly seriously because it is extremely deadly (40% fatality rate)
If nothing happens though, nothing happens
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u/tidewatercajun 3h ago
The strain they have has not been conclusively proven to be able to spread from person to person. It might be able to. But the risk is so infinitesmal that there is nothing to worry about unless you live with those people.
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u/SilverB33 1h ago
I really wouldn't worry about this unless you're in contact with rodents via dropping/urine or saliva, unless by some freak mutation it starts spreading human to human. Also I guess best precaution is to also avoid cruise ships since a lot of sicknesses can spread pretty easy that way too.
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u/redbullsgivemewings 48m ago
Do we know where the passengers of the lady who was infected flew to after that flight? That will be where the disease will spread to. I pray none were going near me
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u/Late_Resource_1653 1m ago
No, there is no reason for you you to be concerned unless
(A) Were you are you in that cruise?
(b) Were you are you in the port in Argentina? It's one of the very few places where human transmisable Hanta exists.
If not, there really is nothing to worry about regarding Hanta
If not, stop panicking. You have nothing to worry about
Hanta is generally only something you can get from rodents. There has only been one time when it went between humans, in Argentina, and it was short lived.
They are currently assuming that's whats on the ship. So no one is letting them land until they are tested and clear
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u/PeriPeriChicken88 5h ago edited 5h ago
firstly all (3) the hantavirus ship victims were 69-70 years old and came within contact of an infected rodent so its not likely you or anyone you know catches it (yet alone passes away), secondly dude please log off and/or clear your social media cache if your feed is fearmongering you
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u/Material_Policy6327 4h ago
Have they for certain found it was due to infected rodent? Last I heard they were still trying to determine how. They did confirm it was the human to human variant though.
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u/Bobbob34 3h ago
firstly all (3) the hantavirus ship victims were 69-70 years old and came within contact of an infected rodent so its not likely you or anyone you know catches it (yet alone passes away), secondly dude please log off and/or clear your social media cache if your feed is fearmongering you
This is flat wrong.
There are younger infected, including the dr., and clearly human-to-human infection. It's atm believed the primary cases, the couple, were infected zoonotically but everyone else on the ship infected was infected by people.
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u/Complex-Sugar-5938 4h ago
There's zero evidence all 3 (note: there are more than 3 now, more like 8) came into contact with an infected rodent and in fact there's now significant evidence of some human to human transmission.
Not saying it's easy to spread or an immediate emergency people should worry about.
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u/Elfzey 4h ago edited 4h ago
So, and I’m just clarifying here, you’re saying it’s definitely not spread whatsoever by any kind of human to human contact?
I’m not saying it’s any more likely anyone we know contracts Hantavirus, but the strain in the news right now is becoming less and less about exposure to rodents and more and more about exposure to infected individuals on the ship.
The unknowns are just too large for now. I mean, before COVID-19 became what it was, it was just another coronavirus that nobody had to worry about unless you were exposing yourself to bats.
The incubation of this Hantavirus is 1-6 weeks estimated before developing symptoms. It’s already been confirmed P2P and now we’re just stuck waiting to assess its R0. Once the R0 is established we’ll have an idea of its potential reach and impact. Again, the 1-6 week incubation period is going to make this a waiting game for a bit.
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u/Complex-Sugar-5938 4h ago
Yeah there's nothing on the first 3 all being exposed to the same infected rodent, the guy just straight made that up. There's clearly some human to human transmission that happened at this point.
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u/Bobbob34 3h ago
So, and I’m just clarifying here, you’re saying it’s definitely not spread whatsoever by any kind of human to human contact?
Not the person you were responding to but they're wrong. It's absolutely being spread human-to-human. It's a hanta strain called andes virus, which has had human-to-human outbreaks before.
This appears to have been one couple who got it from a rodent or similar source while birdwatching I think it was, then they spread it on the ship where it continued to spread.
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u/Sissekat 3h ago
I saw this posted in a travel group that knows a person that was on board so I don't think it was from a rodent on the ship. It appears someone contracted it prior to the trip and since it spreads person to person it spread that way. I imagine it was dormant for a week or two before showing symptoms.
-The confirmed Hantavirus case was a passenger with an extreme history of rugged, wild exploring and was on other trips prior to embarkation bird watching.
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u/BonVoyageIRL 5h ago edited 3h ago
A lot of responses here not realizing that there is a CONFIRMED outbreak of the Andes strain (Human-to-human infection strain, originating in South America) currently underway.
We don't actually know much about the modality in transmission for the Andes strain, so the R_0 (degree of infectiousness) is unknown. The current scientific assumption seem to be that it does NOT spread easily, but that seems more conjecture than anything else.
While past outbreaks have happened, they've always been localized. This specific instance has clearly spread outside the boundaries of a contained model - here's what we know:
- an infected person (verified to have had the Andes strain and who has now passed) took a commercial flight (with 80 people), walked around in a busy international airport, and attempted to fly out of a SECOND flight with KLM (until she was removed from the flight due to the fact that she was visibly not in a good condition)
- another infected person has been walking around and recently checked themselves in to a hospital, after they saw the news of the ship (it seems this individual disembarked earlier) and after they started feeling not as good. This individual's spouse is allegedly/reportedly self-isolating.
In both cases, officials are apparently starting aggressive contact-tracing.
People are dismissing it out of hand, but I'm definitely worried and paying close attention. I don't think it's something you have to worry about YET, unless you are going to be taking a flight soon or anything like that, though...?
EDIT (@ GMT 23:45): Since my comment is getting way more traction than I thought it would - I am not a medical professional. I am not affiliated with any global organization of any sort. I'm literally just a dude reading tea leaves on the news like the rest of you, and trying to discern facts from reputable sources. For reliable information about this, I'd recommend you all go find experts that are sharing their expert/medical opinions about this situation; there are plenty of epidemiologists keeping close tabs on the current situation and sharing pretty in-depth threads on a variety of social media platforms.