The alleged, which has already caused three dead in a cruise that departed from Ushuaia (Argentina) –and in which they travel at least 14 Spaniards (13 passengers and one crew member) – presents a low risk of spreadaccording to Hans Henri P. Kluge, regional director of the World Health Organization (OMS) for Europe. Along the same lines, in an interview with EL PERIÓDICO, Fernando Esperónprofessor of Veterinary Medicine, co-principal investigator of the Biosciences and Global Health Research Group of the European University. “This is a virus that has been in the population for a long time, it is nothing new.” The experts’ main hypothesis is that those affected could have been infected on land.
The, although in cases uncommon It can spread between people and lead to serious respiratory illnesses. This is a type of virus that has been known since the 1980s. The WHO, for its part, has reported a public health event involving a cruise ship sailing in the Atlantic Ocean. To date, one case of hantavirus infection has been confirmed in the laboratory and, for now, there are five other suspected cases.
“Serious medical situation”
Of these six individualsthree have died and a fourth is in intensive care in Johannesburg (South Africa). Additionally, two crew members are requiring urgent medical attention. As confirmed in a statement by the Dutch company Oceanwide Expedition, they are currently managing “a serious medical situation” on board the MV Hondius, located off to the coast of Cape Verde.
“There is no need to panic at all. It is a virus that spreads little and kills little,” says the university professor
In the absence of knowing more details, Esperón clarifies that it is not a virus that is transmitted between people. “The risk of jump from rodents to humans is very low and the probability of contagion between humans is almost zero. There is no need to panic at all. It is a virus that spreads little and kills little. Epidemiologically, this case implies nothing more than a notification and it is very sporadic. Look at how many rodents there are and yet how few cases are heard of of this virus in humans. There are no hantavirus outbreaks. It’s not that common. If I had been on that cruise myself, with the knowledge I have, no one would be afraid“says the professor at the European University.
A zoonosis
Hantavirus is a zoonosis –infectious disease that has passed from an animal to humans– infrequent. It circulates regularly in mice (and voles and similar animals; are its natural reservoir) and can infect humans when particles (usually dust) are inhaled. contaminated with their urine or fecesadds the epidemiologist Salvador Peiró.
Hantaviruses “have been known since the 1950s, I think since the Korean War, and were identified in the 1970s,” explains epidemiologist Salvador Peiró.
Researcher in the Health Services and Pharmacoepidemiology Research Area of the Foundation for the Promotion of Health and Biomedical Research of the Valencian Community (FISABIO) and director of ‘Gaceta Sanitaria’, magazine of the Spanish Society of Public Health and Health Administration (SESPAS), Peiró – in a reaction that includes Science Media Centre (SMC) Spain – agrees that hantaviruses are not a new virus.
‘Pumala virus’
“They have known each other since the ’50s, I think since the Korean War, and they identified in the ’70s,” he explains. In Europe, indicates Fernando Esperón, the most frequent es el ‘Puumala virus’, a hantavirus that usually causes symptoms with fever and kidney damage, which are rarely serious and, in many cases, go unnoticed.
“It produces a syndrome what is called renal hemorrhagic and it has a mortality rate in humans of less than 1%. “It is known that its main carrier is a species of vole, the red vole. To get an idea of the real impact in Spain, less than 20 cases have been reported in the last 10 years,” explains Esperón.
More aggressive
In South America, the variant is more aggressive and causes cardiopulmonary syndrome with rapid respiratory failure, hemorrhages and significant mortality. The professor from the European University alludes to the Andes variantthe main cause of hantavirus pulmonary syndrome (HPS) on the continent, transmitted by the long-tailed mouse (Oligoryzomys longicaudatus).
Unlike other hantaviruses, the Andes variant It has demonstrated the capacity to infect humans. Esperon points out that, even so, this contagion is “very limited. There has to be very close contact and the probability of transmission is very low.”
A striking outbreak
The outbreak on the cruise ship It is striking for the context (with several cases, Peiró points out) and for the seriousness. It suggests a common source of exposure: well before getting on the boat (hantavirus takes 2-4 weeks between contagion and symptoms) or in some space on the boat contaminated by mouse droppings.
“What will have to be done, since there is still no data, would be to type the virus, know what the variant is. And based on that, act; try to see where this person could have been infected. From my perspective, with the data that is currently available, I don’t think it was on the cruise itself.“adds Fernando Esperan.
The MV Hondius cruise ship upon arrival at the port of Praia, capital of Cape Verde, this Sunday / AFP
“My subjective point of view is that the patient has been infected before: he has been incubating it and has developed the disease on the cruise. Or that the three people (for the deceased) had the same origin. I do not have the information if they have some degree of kinship or not but, if they have it, they probably caught it before the cruise. Because they were living together in an area or in some rooms where there would have been exposure to dust with abundant rodents“adds the professor.
“Those particles in suspension What remains of infected rodents It is the main cause of contagion today, as far as is known. That they have infected each other could be due to the Andes variant, but it is not really common,” he adds. It is important, the experts conclude, to emphasize that there is no general risk for the population where the ship goes. Passengers will have to be monitored for the time they may develop symptoms (not because they are contagious, but in case they get sick) and The boat will have to be cleaned and deratized.
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