Hantavirus?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I didn't hear about the France case being infected on a plane. Link?

Also, I was under the impression that this strain of hantavirus is endemic in Argentina- it's not a novel thing- and it requires very close contact to spread, like sharing a bed, or sharing food. So I suppose being right next to someone on the airplane and sharing a drink with them or something could spread it, but I did not think it was very easily transmissible, not airborne or small droplet spread like flu or covid etc.

The study that supported human to human transmission reported very close contract - “deep kissing” and sexual contact. And a later systematic review, which is a higher level study, said the first study was flawed in several ways and did not look at other environmental exposure besides close contact. So I think there are a lot of questions marks here and the WHO is dealing with a unicorn case where they need to be cautious, but hantavirus is well known to result in small clusters of infections with no history of large outbreaks.

Hantavirus is not prone to mutation despite being an RNA virus, so that is reassuring as well. I wouldn’t be worried about hantavirus this summer, but a month ago, I would have said the chances of a cluster on a cruise ship was close to zero, so what do I know? Retired ID doc here.

Thank you for your perspective, how do we explain then that the flight attendant is now assumed positive?

“ She had briefly come into contact with an elderly Dutch passenger who was deemed too sick to fly — and who then collapsed at the airport and later died.”

DP. The flight attendant isn’t confirmed to have it. It could be many other things. There is a research article though that talks about how during the last outbreak with 30 or so people, ~4-5 people got it from being 2+ feet away at other tables including someone who simply walked by.

[Anonymous]

Here is a site with very recent info (in the last hour) that explains everything.

https://open.substack.com/pub/deplatformdisease/p/some-hantavirus-updates-focus-on?r=onklg&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email

Too much to reduce to a few lines, but indeed it has not been established that the French national or the stewardess actually have hantavirus- it could be common cold. The transmission seems to come from close contact. There have been studies done on this virus with prior outbreaks, so there is some info.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I didn't hear about the France case being infected on a plane. Link?

Also, I was under the impression that this strain of hantavirus is endemic in Argentina- it's not a novel thing- and it requires very close contact to spread, like sharing a bed, or sharing food. So I suppose being right next to someone on the airplane and sharing a drink with them or something could spread it, but I did not think it was very easily transmissible, not airborne or small droplet spread like flu or covid etc.

The study that supported human to human transmission reported very close contract - “deep kissing” and sexual contact. And a later systematic review, which is a higher level study, said the first study was flawed in several ways and did not look at other environmental exposure besides close contact. So I think there are a lot of questions marks here and the WHO is dealing with a unicorn case where they need to be cautious, but hantavirus is well known to result in small clusters of infections with no history of large outbreaks.

Hantavirus is not prone to mutation despite being an RNA virus, so that is reassuring as well. I wouldn’t be worried about hantavirus this summer, but a month ago, I would have said the chances of a cluster on a cruise ship was close to zero, so what do I know? Retired ID doc here.

Thank you for your perspective, how do we explain then that the flight attendant is now assumed positive?

“ She had briefly come into contact with an elderly Dutch passenger who was deemed too sick to fly — and who then collapsed at the airport and later died.”

If the flight attendant tests positive for hantavirus, that is bad news and it means that our knowledge of hantavirus is seriously flawed and that hantavirus is behaving in a way that we have never seen before. Remember that the threshold for testing in this case is very low, and 1) the symptoms for hantavirus are nonspecific and similar to symptoms for a wide range of other viruses, 2) the flight attendant is exposed to many viruses due to her work environment, and 3) everyone is on edge and hyper vigilant about symptoms right now.

Here is the review of the original study claiming human to human transmission. It doesn’t mean that it’s not possible, but it means that the data wasn’t solid.

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9574657/

Also remember that the media enjoys clicks and writing a title like “Dutch flight attendant has hantavirus symptoms” is making them money. She could have hantavirus or she could have seasonal allergies. Unclear to us right now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I haven’t heard about new cases reported in the countries that are treating the cruise ship staff/patients.
This is why I don’t do cruises (other than the small motor sailboat yacht in Galapagos) - viruses can fly through the passengers like wildfire.

After the norovirus and diarrhea cruises, I don't understand why anyone would do it.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Even this type of Hanta is not airborne. It’s (in rare cases) transmitted via bodily fluid. While it’s sad for all these people, I think that for everyone else it’s just their Covid PTSD talking.

I don’t think so, some of us are interested in viruses, others feel terrified because we have no one in a position of authority who can protect or guide us anymore.
For all parties, we still have CIDRAP and the WHO. They are reliable and valid sources for information.

You felt protected by the Biden CDC and Fauci during COVID? It is well documented, and many of us in public health could tell at the time, that they were just making up a response without real scientific evidence. They also rushed forward mass immunizing the public, so that any reasonable experiment on longer term efficacy and safety was impossible (without large controls.) The mortality rate/risk of the infection was grossly overestimated for nearly everyone. I guess you were their target audience.

I’m not going to argue with you, it derails the thread. I like to stick to topic.
I will warn you, you will be reported for spreading your anti vax nonsense. Take it somewhere else.

Conducting scientific evaluation is anti-vax? I guess my public health education and career evaluating health care information was wasted. Especially when you compare my post to the absolutely false information being posted above in this thread.

[Anonymous]

Epidemiologist’s flow chart on how worried you should be—

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/07/opinion/hantavirus-cruise-ship-virus-outbreak.html?unlocked_article_code=1.g1A.4Gq2.xi1ar-46VKX1&smid=nytcore-ios-share

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Epidemiologist’s flow chart on how worried you should be—

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/07/opinion/hantavirus-cruise-ship-virus-outbreak.html?unlocked_article_code=1.g1A.4Gq2.xi1ar-46VKX1&smid=nytcore-ios-share

They did the exact same thing with COVID telling people to go celebrate Chinese New Year and hug a Chinese person. Then in March they turned on a dime and said stay in your house and even an empty beach was too risky.
They shot their wad so to speak. No one will believe epidemiologists again until they talk about that.

[Anonymous]

The flight attendant doesn’t surprise me. The news said that the woman was asked to leave the flight because she was too ill to fly. I think the woman died the next day. So she was probably very sick. The flight attendant probably assisted her in getting off the flight with the woman breathing and coughing on her. If I were in the seat next to the woman or in front of her, I’d also be pretty worried.

The good news is that all the Americans who came back don’t have any symptoms which means they probably weren’t contagious on their flights home and hopefully if they get as much as a scratchy throat they will quarantine.

The patient zero couple had spent four months bird watching in remote areas so again not super surprised they picked something up. Argentina had over 100 cases this year, including at least a couple human to human transmission so it’s low level endemic in rural Argentina.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Epidemiologist’s flow chart on how worried you should be—

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/07/opinion/hantavirus-cruise-ship-virus-outbreak.html?unlocked_article_code=1.g1A.4Gq2.xi1ar-46VKX1&smid=nytcore-ios-share

They did the exact same thing with COVID telling people to go celebrate Chinese New Year and hug a Chinese person. Then in March they turned on a dime and said stay in your house and even an empty beach was too risky.
They shot their wad so to speak. No one will believe epidemiologists again until they talk about that.

But this isn’t a novel virus. It’s been documented in Argentina including the human to human transmission for decades.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Epidemiologist’s flow chart on how worried you should be—

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/07/opinion/hantavirus-cruise-ship-virus-outbreak.html?unlocked_article_code=1.g1A.4Gq2.xi1ar-46VKX1&smid=nytcore-ios-share

They did the exact same thing with COVID telling people to go celebrate Chinese New Year and hug a Chinese person. Then in March they turned on a dime and said stay in your house and even an empty beach was too risky.
They shot their wad so to speak. No one will believe epidemiologists again until they talk about that.

But this isn’t a novel virus. It’s been documented in Argentina including the human to human transmission for decades.

Yes but there’s no cure or vaccine.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The flight attendant doesn’t surprise me. The news said that the woman was asked to leave the flight because she was too ill to fly. I think the woman died the next day. So she was probably very sick. The flight attendant probably assisted her in getting off the flight with the woman breathing and coughing on her. If I were in the seat next to the woman or in front of her, I’d also be pretty worried.

The good news is that all the Americans who came back don’t have any symptoms which means they probably weren’t contagious on their flights home and hopefully if they get as much as a scratchy throat they will quarantine.

The patient zero couple had spent four months bird watching in remote areas so again not super surprised they picked something up. Argentina had over 100 cases this year, including at least a couple human to human transmission so it’s low level endemic in rural Argentina.

1-6 week incubation period. The concern is you can be shedding the virus before you exhibit symptoms.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Anyone else with international travel plans nervous about this virus that has now been confirmed to spread human to human and has new reported cases in Switzerland and France? Supposedly the France case was infected on a plane from one of the cruise ship passengers (who later died).

I have flights to Europe in late May and a Mediterranean cruise and am getting nervous about this! Between the Middle East war, jet fuel issues, and this it feels like a bad sign for Europe travel right now.

No. But I am not an anxious puddle of mud like you appear to be.

Jesus.

[Anonymous]

Did everyone forget that Gene Hackman’s wife died of hantavirus?

Google says there are between 10k and 200k cases of hantavirus each year around the world.

Argentina has its own strain and Patient Zero contracted it before he got on the ship? How? Because he spent weeks birdwatching across Argentina—including around landfills…where he likely acquired the virus.

Hantavirus typically pops up in western US states (again: remember Hackman’s wife?).

With the disgusting rat problem in DC, y’all should worry about what could happen in your own backyard rather than some fancy hotel in a nice European city.

PS - Always resist the urge to visit landfills when traveling. #themoreyouknow

[Anonymous]

The flight attendant tested negative. I'm an infectious disease epidemiologist - there is very little risk to the general public.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Did everyone forget that Gene Hackman’s wife died of hantavirus?

Google says there are between 10k and 200k cases of hantavirus each year around the world.

Argentina has its own strain and Patient Zero contracted it before he got on the ship? How? Because he spent weeks birdwatching across Argentina—including around landfills…where he likely acquired the virus.

Hantavirus typically pops up in western US states (again: remember Hackman’s wife?).

With the disgusting rat problem in DC, y’all should worry about what could happen in your own backyard rather than some fancy hotel in a nice European city.

PS - Always resist the urge to visit landfills when traveling. #themoreyouknow

The strain that she died from is not person to person transmissible. The concern is when multiple people started getting infected and had not been in contact with rodents, etc. that this was a different strain.