WASHINGTON, May 12 — The Andes virus is the only hantavirus that can be transmitted from person to person, but this is a very difficult process, said David Fitter, director of the Division of Global Migration Health at the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), reported Sputnik/RIA Novosti.
“It is not a novel pathogen. It is very difficult to spread. This is a different strain. So we have hantavirus in the United States. It is a different strain of that. And this hantavirus, the Andes virus, is the only strain that is person-to-person, but again, it is very difficult to spread: through close contact with bodily secretions, respiration, sharing things intimately, a toothbrush, etc. And so this is very different from a respiratory virus,” Fitter said at a press conference.
Yesterday, the US Department of Health and Human Services said that one of 17 Americans evacuated from a cruise ship where the outbreak occurred had mild symptoms of hantavirus, while another person tested positive for the Andes variant of the virus.
NBC later reported that the plane carrying the Americans evacuated from the ship landed in Nebraska.
The University of Nebraska Medical Centre said that one person tested positive for the virus but was not showing symptoms.
A deadly hantavirus outbreak was reported aboard the Dutch cruise ship MV Hondius, which was travelling from Argentina to Cape Verde.
The World Health Organisation has confirmed seven infections, including three fatalities.
On Sunday, the MV Hondius arrived off the coast of Tenerife in the Canary Islands.
Hantaviruses are a group of viruses transmitted to humans through contact with rodents. They can cause haemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome and hantavirus pulmonary syndrome.
