90-Second Read: Hantavirus case was diagnosed in the 1980s in a Lufkin hospital

After several people were recently diagnosed or exposed to the Hantavirus on a cruise ship, many people may have thought it was a disease that had recently come on the scene. However, Hantavirus cases have been diagnosed for many years, although cases are very rare. Gene Stewart, of Lufkin, said his wife Ann Stewart, before retiring several years ago, was clinical laboratory administrative director at the former Memorial Medical Center of East Texas in Lufkin in the late 1980s when a Hantavirus case was confirmed.

She must have inhaled spores or somehow come in contact with feces that caused her to contract the Hantavirus. Experts report that Hantavirus is a serious, often fatal respiratory disease transmitted to humans primarily through contact with infected wild rodents such as deer mice or their droppings, urine and saliva. Contact with such may result in severe illnesses like Hantavirus Pulmonary Syndrome (HPS), which attacks the lungs.

In April, passengers boarded the MV Hondius cruise ship in Argentina and were potentially exposed to Hantavirus. A total of 18 people from the ill-fated journey are reportedly now home in the United States. A nurse that worked there had just died from an unknown cause.