BRYAN, Texas (KBTX) – As passengers and crew disembark from the MV Hondius, a cruise ship stricken with Hantavirus, passengers are returning to their home countries, including Americans who are being monitored for the disease.
Dr. Angela Clendenin, an epidemiologist and professor at the Texas A&M School of Public Health, explained what makes this version of the Hantavirus different.
Clendenin said the most common way people contract the disease, carried by rats and mice, is by inhaling aerosolized urine or saliva, or by contact with rat droppings.
“It does not transmit person to person very well, with the exception of the Andes strain, which has shown the ability to transmit person to person,” Clendenin said. “But even with the Andes strain, it takes prolonged close-quarters contact in order to successfully transmit human to human.”
Health authorities say the risk to the broader public is low from the first-ever hantavirus outbreak on a cruise ship. While there is no cure or vaccine for hantavirus, the World Health Organization (WHO) says early detection and treatment improve survival rates.
“Because it takes that prolonged close contact for this particular strain to transmit from human to human, it’s very easy to isolate those that have been exposed and monitor them for symptoms and track the people who they’ve been in contact with,” Clendenin said. “You would again have to come in contact with an infected person’s coughing, sneezing, where they’re aerosolizing saliva or things like that.”
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has confirmed that a different cruise ship has more than 100 people on board who have contracted norovirus.
Clendenin said the best way to protect yourself from any communicable disease is to wash your hands.
“People forget how many times they may touch contaminated surfaces and then touch their face, putting hands, your fingers near your eyes or your nose or your mouth or some area of entry into your body,” Clendenin said. “So washing your hands frequently and often is going to be the number one thing that you can do.”
Clendenin also suggests isolating at the first sign of illness to help prevent spreading germs to other people.
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