{"id":192745,"date":"2026-05-14T23:13:16","date_gmt":"2026-05-14T23:13:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/192745\/"},"modified":"2026-05-14T23:13:16","modified_gmt":"2026-05-14T23:13:16","slug":"local-health-experts-share-pennsylvanias-response-to-hantavirus-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/192745\/","title":{"rendered":"Local health experts share Pennsylvania’s response to hantavirus"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hantavirus is a rare infectious disease mainly spread by rodents and is now on U.S. soil. Passengers aboard a Dutch cruise ship are being quarantined in Nebraska and Georgia, according to health officials.<\/p>\n

While no cases have been identified in Pennsylvania, hospitals are ready to respond should the situation change.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re actually very well prepared in Pennsylvania; several of our hospital systems here in the state have specialized facilities with advanced capabilities and clinical teams that can safely acre for highly infectious disease patients while also protecting the public and healthcare workers,\u201d said Christopher Chamberlain. vice president with the Hospital and Healthsystem Association of Pennsylvania.<\/a><\/p>\n

Chamberlain works with more than 230 hospitals across the state, including UPMC.<\/p>\n

Doctor Graham Snyder<\/a> is the medical director of Infection Prevention and Hospital Epidemiology and says preparedness begins with communication.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe know what we\u2019re going to do to recognize Andes virus, to know what to do to prevent that virus from going to the infected person to other people in our healthcare, and where to seek health and care for that person,\u201d Snyder said.<\/p>\n

He says monitoring infectious diseases like hantavirus is routine and not indicative of an impending outbreak.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery hospital in our region and throughout the us is ready for any situation that can make taking care of patients more difficult.\u201d<\/p>\n

The State Department of Health<\/a> confirmed it is working with several health agencies to monitor hantavirus and create plans accordingly.<\/p>\n

Health care providers are required to notify DOH within 24 hours of a positive test result.<\/p>\n

Chamberlain does not expect that to happen.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe best steps people can take are the same basic infection measures we recommend every day; wash your hands regularly, avoid close contact with others when you\u2019re sick, and stay home if you don\u2019t feel well,\u201d Chamberlain explained.<\/p>\n

In a statement to FOX43, a spokesperson with Penn State Health wrote:<\/p>\n

\u201cPenn State Health is well prepared to isolate, safely evaluate and care for patients with a wide range of infectious diseases, including rare but serious infections such as hantavirus.<\/p>\n

As a Level 2 Special Pathogen Treatment Center since 2015, Penn State Health Milton S. Hershey Medical Center has specialized training, equipment and protocols in place to respond quickly and safely to emerging infectious diseases concerns. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Penn State Health utilized these resources to serve as a regional leader in infectious diseases care with excellent patient outcomes. In January 2026, Milton S. Hershey Medical Center received a federal grant through the National Emerging Special Pathogens Training and Education Center to further enhance its preparedness efforts, including staff training, infrastructure and response systems.<\/p>\n

Patients and families should feel reassured that our teams routinely train for these types of scenarios and work closely with public health partners to ensure safe, high-quality care while protecting patients, staff and the community.\u201d<\/p>\n

The DOH has more information on hantavirus here.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Hantavirus is a rare infectious disease mainly spread by rodents and is now on U.S. soil. Passengers aboard…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":192746,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[85803,85800,85801,1057,18650,85802,5725,42687,28,30,29],"class_list":["post-192745","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-pennsylvania","tag-chamberlain","tag-christopher-chamberlain","tag-doctor-graham-snyder","tag-health","tag-healthcare-workers","tag-hospital-and-healthsystem-association","tag-hospitals","tag-infectious-disease","tag-pennsylvania","tag-pennsylvania-headlines","tag-pennsylvania-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/192745","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=192745"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/192745\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/192746"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=192745"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=192745"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=192745"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}