90-Second Read: 3 King County residents possibly exposed to Hantavirus linked to cruise

Three King County residents were potentially exposed to the type of Hantavirus blamed for a deadly cruise ship outbreak last month, health officials announced Tuesday, while also noting the risk to the public remains low. The two King County residents on an April 25 flight from Johannesburg to Amsterdam were sitting two seats away from the ill cruise ship passenger who was removed from the plane before takeoff, the health department said. The type of Hantavirus identified in the cruise ship outbreak is the Andes virus, which is the only known type of Hantavirus that can spread from person to person, health officials said. There are currently no cases of Hantavirus in King County, and risk to the general public remains low. One of the King County residents was a.

King County's public health teams are checking in daily on the two residents who returned home, and who live together, to monitor for any symptoms that might appear. In Washington state, there are deer mice that can carry a different type of Hantavirus known as Sin Nombre, which does not spread from person to person, King County public health officials wrote in a post last week. There are typically one to five Hantavirus cases reported each year in the state, mostly in Central and Eastern Washington, according to the state health department. The possible exposures are the first to be reported among Washington residents in connection with the MV Hondius. None of the King County adults have tested positive, and no one in the county has reported symptoms, Dr.

In contrast, Hantavirus disease surveillance has been going on since the 1990s, and we have a lot more information about the virus and how it spreads, she said. Hantavirus infections are rare but can cause severe illness, health officials said. Such transmission is rare, and studies show that spread between people typically requires prolonged, close contact with a person sick with the Andes virus, according to the King County health department. The most recent Hantavirus death here occurred last year in a Whitman County resident, said Johnson, of the health department. Three cruise passengers, from the Netherlands and Germany, have died and several others have been infected.

Valenciano said she didn't know how long the two people were on the plane while the sick passenger was aboard, or if there were other Washington residents on the flight who were exposed. On May 2, South African health officials confirmed he had tested positive for Hantavirus. It may bring back memories from the COVID-19 pandemic, but it's also quite different than what happened with COVID-19." When SARS-CoV-2 emerged, it was a novel virus we didn't know much about, Valenciano said. The King County resident who was on the MV Hondius is also asymptomatic and being monitored with other American passengers at the national quarantine center at the University of Nebraska Medical Center. The virus primarily spreads through contact with wild rodents, especially when people are exposed to their urine.