By Lawrence Smith
Kentucky Today
“This is not COVID.” That was the message from one Louisville physician when it came to concerns about the hantavirus.
Dr. Daniel Blatt, a pediatric infectious disease doctor at Norton Children’s Hospital, said there is almost no danger to the general public from the hantavirus outbreak that began recently on a Dutch cruise ship.
“The risk of getting it currently is extremely low because you would have had to have been either on the cruise ship or in very, very close contact with someone who was on that cruise ship, and all of those patients are being monitored by the public health authorities,” he said.
Blatt said the hantavirus is mostly transmitted by direct contact with rodent droppings, rodent feces or rodent urine. However, the Andes strain of the virus that broke out on the ship can be transmitted from human to human, though not very easily.
“As an infectious disease doctor, I’m always scared about another pandemic. I’m always worried about public health crises. This is not COVID. This is different. COVID was a new virus that spread very, very easily amongst people, to people,” said Blatt.
“With the Andes strain of hantavirus, it is a known quantity that has been around for many, many years. It requires very close, intimate contact for one human to get it from another human.”
What’s more, Blatt said, for a human to get the Andes strain of virus from an animal, the person must have been in close contact with an infected animal — and only in South America.
“My message is that I don’t want people to think that this is a COVID that this is going to turn into another pandemic,” he said. “It’s concerning because it’s a public health risk, and that’s why we need to monitor people who do have this infection. But currently, it is very different than COVID.”
Blatt said the symptoms of the Andes strain of the hantavirus include fever, muscle aches and pains, and gastrointestinal symptoms like diarrhea.
“If it does progress to severe disease, which is not the majority of cases, then you can end up getting respiratory distress and severe respiratory disease,” he said.
Blatt said there are no medicines that directly treat hantavirus. Those with severe symptoms receive respiratory support such as oxygen to help them breathe.
“It’s treating the symptoms. So, the people that get ill, if they need treatment, need supportive care early to improve their chances of doing well.
“But again, a lot of the cases are going to be mild, and in general, the public shouldn’t be super worried about this because the chances right now of getting this are very, very low, unless you’re on the cruise ship.”