90-Second Read: Why the Hantavirus outbreak is different from COVID-19

But the Hantavirus is very different from COVID-19 in how it spreads, how deadly it is and how likely it is to trigger another global crisis, public health experts said. The current public health risk from Hantavirus remains low. Here is a a breakdown of the key differences between the Hantavirus and COVID-19: Hantaviruses are a family of viruses that cause two main illnesses in humans. US and French evacuees from Hantavirus-hit ship test positive The last of the passengers on the Hantavirus-struck MV Hondius cruise ship have been flown to the Netherlands. But new cases are emerging as researchers race to track down where the outbreak originated.

Research suggested Hantaviruses have circulated for centuries with outbreaks recorded in parts of Asia and Europe. Three people, a Dutch couple and a German tourist, have died in the Hantavirus outbreak on the ship. However, Strandin said, while COVID-19 is typically "better controlled in previously healthy individuals", Hantaviruses "can cause severe infections in healthy younger individuals". One is known as Hantavirus pulmonary syndrome (HPS) and primarily attacks the lungs. Hantavirus pulmonary syndrome usually begins with flu-like symptoms, such as fatigue and fever, between one and eight weeks after exposure, according to the CDC.

Experts say the transmission of Hantavirus between humans is so rare that a pandemic is nearly 'impossible'. A previously unknown group of Hantaviruses emerged in the early 1990s in the southwestern United States, causing a severe respiratory illness now known as Hantavirus pulmonary syndrome. According to the WHO and public health experts, person-to-person transmission of the Hantavirus is rare and occurs as a result of close, prolonged contact, such as close proximity within the same household or intimate contact. Andes Hantavirus may be different from other Hantaviruses in that it could infect upper respiratory airways eventually due to high systemic virus loads, but this is rare. At the heart of those fears is the collective experience the world suffered through six years ago with the COVID-19 pandemic, which sent the.

Hantaviruses and coronaviruses, several strains of which cause COVID-19, are both ribonucleic acid (RNA) viruses, which means they use RNA as their genetic material instead of DNA. This structural difference is primarily why COVID-19 is highly contagious while Hantaviruses are not nearly as transmissible. The Andes strain of the Hantavirus, which causes HPS, is the only Hantavirus clearly shown to spread from person to person to a limited extent. According to a hypothesis by the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), the European Union's principal disease prevention agency, some of the ship's passengers caught the Hantavirus while spending time in Argentina before boarding the MV Hondius. The glycoproteins in the Hantavirus structure, on the other hand, don't latch onto ACE2 receptors, but instead bind to β3 integrins, which.