90-Second Read: Is Hantavirus a threat to Europe? Climate change and habitat destruction are increasing the risk

Hantavirus has circulated in Europe long before the MV Hondius outbreak, but is climate change increasing future risk?View on euronews Fears of another global pandemic erupted this month after the MV Hondius cruise ship became the centre of a deadly Hantavirus outbreak. Hantavirus existed in Europe long before it dominated headlines at the beginning of this month, with the first documented outbreak occurring in Sweden in 1934. Amid growing Hantavirus worries, how prepared is Europe for new health threats? The latest World Health Organization (WHO) Disease Outbreak News report states that as of 13 May, a total of 11 cases, including three deaths, have been reported.

Since July last year, Argentina has recorded 101 Hantavirus cases, with 32 deaths. A 2009 study published in the National Library of Medicine says that elevated temperatures in West-Central Europe have been associated with more frequent Puumala Hantavirus outbreaks through high seed production and high bank vole densities. Schelling adds that while uncertainty remains regarding the exact geographic shifts of Hantavirus, Europe's zoonotic disease landscape is likely to change "substantially" over the coming decades. Habitat loss, destruction or degradation, often caused by human-caused deforestation, can both directly and indirectly influence disease transmission.

There are more than 20 different Hantaviruses, almost all of which are linked to infection by rodents such as rats and mice. Climate change and infectious diseases have long been linked by scientists. Puumala is the most common cause of Hantavirus infections in Europe and can spread to people through the inhalation of airborne dust contaminated by the urine, droppings or saliva of infected bank voles. Following the Hantavirus outbreak, experts are calling on policymakers to strengthen surveillance systems that combine epidemiological, ecological and climate data.

This means more vegetation cover and more food for Hantavirus hosts such as rats. The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) says the recent outbreak of Hantavirus has revealed an "unexpected solution": restoring nature. A single person with the virus is thought to have spread it to 34 people, with 11 deaths.