{"id":292085,"date":"2026-05-14T00:38:07","date_gmt":"2026-05-14T00:38:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/292085\/"},"modified":"2026-05-14T00:38:07","modified_gmt":"2026-05-14T00:38:07","slug":"could-hantavirus-become-another-pandemic-texas-childrens-hospital-doctor-answers-internets-biggest-questions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/292085\/","title":{"rendered":"Could hantavirus become another pandemic? Texas Children\u2019s Hospital doctor answers internet\u2019s biggest questions"},"content":{"rendered":"

HOUSTON \u2013 As questions about hantavirus continue circulating online, KPRC 2 took some of the internet\u2019s most common concerns to Dr. Sheldon Kaplan, who said he has worked in infectious diseases at Texas Children\u2019s Hospital<\/a> for 50 years.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople are wondering, this hantavirus, is it going to become another pandemic?\u201d reporter Deven Clarke asked Kaplan.<\/p>\n

\u201cI really don\u2019t think people need to worry about this virus becoming a pandemic,\u201d Kaplan said.<\/p>\n

Kaplan said he also does not believe the virus will spread significantly beyond those directly exposed in the recent cruise ship outbreak tied to the Andes strain of hantavirus.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think people need to worry about this virus \u2026 or really it spreading too far outside the people that were exposed on the cruise ship,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Kaplan explained there are different forms of hantavirus, including one already known in parts of the United States.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think this particular cruise ship outbreak is an isolated situation with a special virus that\u2019s Andes version of the hantavirus,\u201d Kaplan said. \u201cWe have a hantavirus version in the United States in the four corners area that\u2019s associated with rats and rodents but we don\u2019t see it outside of those four corner areas.\u201d<\/p>\n

KPRC 2 also asked whether some people may face higher risks if exposed to the virus.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s a very good question,\u201d Kaplan said. \u201cI would suspect anybody with an underlying condition especially people who have lung conditions or heart conditions may be at increased risk for getting a really severe form of this type of infection but for the general population I don\u2019t think it\u2019s anything to be too worried about.\u201d<\/p>\n

The online conversation has also sparked questions about cleaning and prevention.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s some people out there who just want to be on the super safe side \u2014 should they go around spraying alcohol or Lysol on their countertops?\u201d Clarke asked.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think just do your normal cleaning in your home, washing your hands like you ordinarily would and that\u2019s my advice,\u201d Kaplan responded.<\/p>\n

Kaplan also addressed questions about vaccines.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs far as I know there\u2019s no vaccine that\u2019s available,\u201d he said. \u201cThere\u2019s probably people working on hantavirus vaccines somewhere in the world, not because of this outbreak but because of hantavirus in general.\u201d<\/p>\n

When asked how long hantavirus has existed, Kaplan said: \u201cOh yeah probably, thousands of years.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention<\/a>, hantaviruses are primarily spread through contact with infected rodents or their droppings. More information can be found on the CDC\u2019s hantavirus information page<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 by KPRC Click2Houston – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"HOUSTON \u2013 As questions about hantavirus continue circulating online, KPRC 2 took some of the internet\u2019s most common…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":292086,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[104358,56,66,223,27,29,28],"class_list":["post-292085","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-texas","tag-hantavirus","tag-houston","tag-local","tag-news","tag-texas","tag-texas-headlines","tag-texas-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/292085","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=292085"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/292085\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/292086"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=292085"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=292085"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=292085"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}