Hantavirus?

[Anonymous]

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.

[Anonymous]

what's that a 40-50% chance of death? No thanks.

[Anonymous]

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.

[Anonymous]

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.

[Anonymous]

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 cruise ships are having out breaks and I read that it can take 2-3 weeks to feel the effects all the while you're spreading it to ton of people. It's got a high fatality rate as well and it is pretty easily transmissible. Not good.

[Anonymous]

It's not very transmissible. I don't see anyone other than the cruise ship passengers having it in the news?

[Anonymous]

Here’s a live update blog on the situation:
https://apnews.com/live/hantavirus-cruise-ship-updates-05-06-2026

Cases all seem to have come from the cruise ship. There are 20 people out there somewhere that were exposed but have not been tested yet.

[Anonymous]

What are the odds that there aren’t any rodents on that ship?

It’s the size of a skyscraper and rodents and ships are peas in a pod.

[Anonymous]

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 cruise ships are having out breaks and I read that it can take 2-3 weeks to feel the effects all the while you're spreading it to ton of people. It's got a high fatality rate as well and it is pretty easily transmissible. Not good.

Cruise ShipS? Plural? Spreading it to "a ton of people"? "Easily transmissible"? Please cite your sources. I haven't heard any of this. I've heard one singular cruise ship that originated in a country where this virus was ALREADY ENDEMIC. It has been there. I have heard that it is NOT easily transmissible- hence why the world's population hasn't been annihilated yet despite this virus not being a new thing. I haven't heard it spread to anyone other than a handful of passengers on the cruise ship that were in very close contact with one another. I mean- the corpse was on the ship with them for weeks. Who moved it? Who cared for him when he was sick? This isn't a run of the mill situation with casual contact causing illness. That being said, if a random person one row away from someone else on the plane ended up catching it, that's troubling. (Or- was the plane leaving Argentina to fly back to France? He could have caught it from rodent droppings in Argentina. Hantavirus isn't new, people do catch it.)

[Anonymous]

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 cruise ships are having out breaks and I read that it can take 2-3 weeks to feel the effects all the while you're spreading it to ton of people. It's got a high fatality rate as well and it is pretty easily transmissible. Not good.

It's just one cruise ship that is having an outbreak.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What are the odds that there aren’t any rodents on that ship?

It’s the size of a skyscraper and rodents and ships are peas in a pod.

Unless the passengers are personally cleaning the areas of rodent infestation, it is doubtful they all got it the normal way. It has been confirmed that this is the Andes hantavirus that can be spread through human to human contact.

[Anonymous]

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.

[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 cruise ships are having out breaks and I read that it can take 2-3 weeks to feel the effects all the while you're spreading it to ton of people. It's got a high fatality rate as well and it is pretty easily transmissible. Not good.

It's just one cruise ship that is having an outbreak.

Those people have been taking land excursions and mingling with other people.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What are the odds that there aren’t any rodents on that ship?

It’s the size of a skyscraper and rodents and ships are peas in a pod.

Unless the passengers are personally cleaning the areas of rodent infestation, it is doubtful they all got it the normal way. It has been confirmed that this is the Andes hantavirus that can be spread through human to human contact.

Which is not a novel virus, and only a small minority of the hundreds of cruise ship passengers contracted it from the couple who boarded the ship from Argentina while infected. Also, the article a PP posted says that south african authorities reached out to something like 50-60 people who may have had contact with one of the cruise ship passengers- airplane passengers, etc- and zero of them have tested positive. So again- thankfully it does not seem easy to transmit. If this had been covid in 2020, something like 75% of those contacts would have it. Remember the covid cruise ships?? Like every one of those people ended up testing postiive.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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 cruise ships are having out breaks and I read that it can take 2-3 weeks to feel the effects all the while you're spreading it to ton of people. It's got a high fatality rate as well and it is pretty easily transmissible. Not good.

It's just one cruise ship that is having an outbreak.

Those people have been taking land excursions and mingling with other people.

I know it can cause a lot of anxiety to think about, but this virus historically has not spread very easily from person to person, and does not appear to be spreading easily from person to person this time either. Zero casual contacts of these patients- and zero health care workers who have cared for them- have contracted it. Definitely confirms my belief that cruise ships are petri dishes though.