90-Second Read: What’s Going Around | Monitoring Hantavirus

The rare Andes strain, which was linked to the cruise ship outbreak, is the only Hantavirus that can spread from human to human, typically through prolonged exposure. WASHINGTON ( DC News Now ), While it is at the center of an outbreak on a cruise ship in the Atlantic, investigators said Hantavirus is the same infection that killed the wife of late actor Gene Hackman in their New Mexico home last year. The World Health Organization (WHO) said that a total of 11 Hantavirus cases linked to the cruise have been reported worldwide, including three deaths. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Hantavirus is mainly spread through contact with an infected rodent, like mice or rats.

And if you inhale those particles or viruses, you could get infected with the Hantavirus. For now, they need to monitor for symptoms of Hantavirus, which [are] usually fever and headaches, and GI symptoms, and things like that. They need to do daily checks on the patients for signs and symptoms and make sure there are no symptoms of Hantavirus double up, and if any come up, they have to treat the patient appropriately.

But if you are cleaning an area of a house infested with rodents, and if there are [a] lot of droppings, then those become aerosolized. Most of the American evacuees are at the National Quarantine Unit in Omaha, Nebraska, while officials sent two others to Emory University Hospital in Atlanta to preserve biocontainment rooms.