90-Second Read: Inside the Race to Develop a Test for the Rare Andes Hantavirus

As passengers return to the US from the cruise that saw a rare Hantavirus outbreak, much of the country is lacking a basic public health tool: a test to diagnose the illness in the earliest stages of infection. In just a few days, a lab at the University of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha developed its own diagnostic test for the Andes virus in anticipation of receiving 16 American passengers from the ship. Tests that we have available in the US will not detect that virus that's found in South America," he says, noting that the Andes virus is very different genetically from the primary Hantavirus strain found in the US, known as the Sin Nombre virus. He learned that the CDC has the ability to run a serological test.

The Nebraska team reached out to Steven Bradfute, a Hantavirus scientist at the University of New Mexico. He says the goal is to identify cases as early as possible and start treatment to prevent people from developing serious disease. Kelly Wroblewski, senior director of infectious diseases at the Association for Public Health Laboratories, says state-level capacity for Hantavirus antibody testing is limited. Now, it's ready to start testing those returning to the US after a cruise outbreak. But people don't develop antibodies until they are actively sick and their body has had time to mount an immune response.

A University of Nebraska lab has developed a test that can detect the virus before symptoms become severe. I believe we might be the only lab in the nation that has this test available at the moment," Peter Iwen, director of the Nebraska Public Health Laboratory tells WIRED, referring to polymerase chain reaction (PCR) testing, which was important during the Covid-19 pandemic. Frannie Twohig, a graduate student in Bradfute's lab, had developed an Andes virus PCR test for research purposes as part of her PhD work. The agency developed test kits to distribute to public health labs across the country but the rollout was hampered by faulty kits, which hindered early efforts to track the spread of the virus. When Nebraska was notified that it would be receiving some of.

Andrew Nixon, a spokesperson for the US Department of Health and Human Services, told WIRED that the CDC has a PCR test for the Andes virus but that it's a research test that cannot be used for patient management. While there are no specific Hantavirus drugs immediately available, early supportive care such as fluid management and breathing support can significantly improve survival rates. Andes virus has previously only been detected in South America and isn't found in rodents native to the US. His team added Andes genetic material in various concentrations to samples of healthy human blood to see if their test could detect it. The Andes virus has a fatality rate of around 35 percent.