The Andes strain of hantavirus behind the outbreak on a cruise ship is susceptible to “super-spreader” events, according to research backed by the US military.
Three people have died on the Dutch vessel MV Hondius and three others are sick with suspected hantavirus infection.
More than 140 people -
The US Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases – historically known as the centre of the US biological weapons programme – now focuses on biosecurity and, in 2020, backed groundbreaking research that showed the Andes strain of hantavirus can spread rapidly between people.
The researchers, based at Fort Detrick, Maryland, also found that symptomatic individuals were capable of causing “super-spreader” events given the right social circumstances, such as those found on cruise ships.
The researchers noted a 2018-2019 outbreak in Chubut Province, Argentina, which resulted in 34 confirmed infections and 11 deaths. Research published in the New England Journal of Medicine said: “After a single introduction [of Andes hantavirus] from a rodent reservoir into the human population, transmission was driven by three symptomatic persons who attended crowded social events.
“Our findings traced the first person-to-person transmission event to a birthday party with approximately 100 guests.”
The “index patient” was found to have infected five others during “90 minutes” at the party. The second person infected was found to be the “likely source” for six further cases and, after his death, his wife infected an additional 10 people at his wake.
The researchers added: “It appears that inhalation of droplets or aerosolised virions may have been the routes of infection.”
Despite medical experts acknowledging that human-to-human spread of hantavirus is rare, these findings do not bode well for those on the cruise ship as it makes its way from Cape Verde to the Canary Islands, where it is to be evacuated.
Human-to-human transmission could explain why a British doctor fell ill after treating patients on the ship. It also explains why the South African authorities are urgently trying to trace up to 114 passengers and crew who shared a flight with one of the sick patients from the cruise ship.
The woman disembarked the vessel and flew on a narrow-bodied Embraer E190 aircraft from the island of St Helena to Johannesburg on April 25, where she died a day later.
There are fears she may have infected others on the flight that lasted nearly four hours.
Foster Mohale, a spokesman for South Africa’s Ministry of Health, told The Telegraph that officials were working with the airline to contact passengers urgently.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) has been quick to respond to the outbreak, and with good reason.
The agency considers hantavirus, alongside other deadly pathogens such as the Nipah, Ebola, MERS and Marburg, as carrying a high risk of triggering a major international outbreak.
Perhaps learning the lessons of coronavirus, where human-to-human transmission was recognised too late, WHO’s Maria Van Kerkhove said that there was evidence of human-to-human spread on the cruise ship.
Van Kerkhove, the director of epidemic and pandemic preparedness and prevention, added: “We do believe that there may be some human-to-human transmission that’s happening among the really close contacts, the husband and wife, people who have shared cabins.”
Unfortunately, there is no licensed vaccine for the Andes strain of hantavirus, although several candidates are in clinical trials.
- The Telegraph
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