The head of the World Health Organization has warned countries to prepare for more hantavirus cases after the outbreak onboard the MV Hondius, and thanked Spain for the “compassion and solidarity” it had shown by taking in the stricken cruise ship and evacuating its passengers and crew.
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus urged countries to follow the WHO’s advice and recommendations, which include a 42-day quarantine and constant monitoring of high-risk contacts.
“At the moment, there is no sign that we are seeing the start of a larger outbreak, but of course the situation could change and, given the long incubation period of the virus, it’s possible we might see more cases in the coming weeks,” he told a press conference in Madrid on Tuesday.
63 Comments
ininewcrow@lemmy.ca · 76 pts · 114d
Judging by how we did with the last pandemic ... I guess we should enjoy whatever we've got now because all of it is going to get screwed up by the dumbest people on the planet
BeardededSquidward@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 15 pts · 114d
Dunno about you, I don't really own anything of value. I'm barely scrapping by as it is now. So yeah, it's not hard to feel the desire to let the world burn when your personal life is turning into a relentless treadmill.
YoureHotCupCake@lemmy.world · 16 pts · 114d
Hey if you get infected become a hero and apply at ICE in person.
TankovayaDiviziya@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 114d
But people are dumb so that's why he's back.
MastKalandar@feddit.online · 2 pts · 114d
So you believe things are going to get difficult by this month end ??
givesomefucks@lemmy.world · 30 pts · 114d
I'd fucking hope so...
If we see signs of a larger outbteak, it's already too late. This has 40% mortality rate under the best conditions when dealing with isolated cases, and an R factor over two (1 is where its infectious enough to cause wifescale problems)
This is like Y2k all over again. We need to take it seriously and if we do a bunch of idiots will think that means we didn't need to.
But if we let the idiots win and don't take it seriously, then we're all fucked
I'll never understand why the idiots get so fucking triggered that someone else is worried about something and trying to protect them.
If people don't think this is a big deal and there's no reason for anyone to worry, then they can just ignore the entire thing on a personal level.
Instead they feel insulted if anyone disagrees with them, because that's what idiots do.
They don't care about if they're right, they just get mad if anyone disagrees with them about anything.
Banana@sh.itjust.works · 33 pts · 114d
Hantavirus is not nearly as contagious as something like COVID and requires close, prolonged contact and sharing of respiratory secretions or saliva to spread. Its important to be wary of hantavirus, but the best thing you can do instead of panicking is to educate yourself on it.
Ever swept your garage? You were putting yourself at risk for hantavirus. A lot of people don't know this. Read up on the way it spreads and where it originates (usually rodent droppings -- it's no surprise this happened on a cruise ship as they are pretty well known vectors of disease), and how to properly deal with things like that.
I understand why you feel worried and that is valid, but channel that energy into educating yourself and those in your circles so you're prepared.
stepintomydojo@sh.itjust.works · 11 pts · 114d
FYI, the suspected origin is South America, not on board the ship. Cruise ships do seem to be perfect environments for further spreading disease, though.
Banana@sh.itjust.works · 8 pts · 114d
This makes sense! Those dang bird watchers shakes fist
thesohoriots@lemmy.world · 8 pts · 114d
Yeah: bird watching at a dump. What the hell were they looking for, seagulls?
Banana@sh.itjust.works · 6 pts · 114d
Wait actually at a dump??
thesohoriots@lemmy.world · 7 pts · 114d
Yeah, at a goddamn dump.
Banana@sh.itjust.works · 3 pts · 114d
Waow
SaveTheTuaHawk@lemmy.ca · 2 pts · 114d
Majestic seagulls.
TropicalDingdong@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 114d
You don't like seagulls?
Rug_Pisser@piefed.zip · 1 pts · 114d
Not even seagulls like seagulls (or, more accurately: "the type of gulls that live by the sea")
SaveTheTuaHawk@lemmy.ca · 6 pts · 114d
It's extremely questionable if Andes strain really transmits person-person.
Cruise ships are disgusting and infamous for food contamination. The industry is really pushing the "it was one guy" theory to distract from shit in the food.
MastKalandar@piefed.ca · 1 pts · 114d
What about aeroplanes ??
radiofreebc@lemmy.world · 7 pts · 114d
Banana@sh.itjust.works · 3 pts · 114d
I just learned this earlier today! Fuckin weird people birdwatching at a dump.
sem@piefed.blahaj.zone · 1 pts · 114d
Doesn't sound weird to me. How do you breathe rat droppings at an outdoor environment like a dump?
YoureHotCupCake@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 114d
Shouldn't a mask be extremely effective against this virus? So it should be easy to protect yourself I would think.
It will probably also be a form of natural selection for those that refuse to wear one.
MML@sh.itjust.works · 4 pts · 114d
I think even basic hygiene would be pretty effective against the virus, IDK doesn't seem like the "next COVID" even if we should do what we can to prevent it.
givesomefucks@lemmy.world · -4 pts · 114d
Any mask is better than no mask...
But look at the type the WHO was wearing (full on body suits), or the plastic "iron lung" tents the Spanish are using when someone pops positive.
I really don't know if COVID era masks would do anything or not.
It'll be like COVID at best, where wearing a mask doesn't prevent you from being infected, but a mask drastically reduces who you infect.
So, masks would only work if everyone is wearing them. One asymptomatic idiot that refuses to even get tested would infect everyone they walk past.
YoureHotCupCake@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 114d
Well yeah I would expect the WHO doctors to take every precaution they can especially because they are the ones studying it. But from my understanding this virus spreads through saliva and small liquid particles that are expelled from talking, coughing, or sneezing. I would think that a mask would help a ton in preventing these liquid particles from entering your system. You would also want to wash your hands frequently too especially before eating.
givesomefucks@lemmy.world · -2 pts · 114d
...
You mean like COVID?
Or literally every respiratory infection?
If a group is all wearing masks, no one is exhaling breath with those droplets, and everyone is safe.
If only infected people wear a mask, everyone is safe.
If a single infected person doesn't wear a mask, they can infect people still wearing masks.
Rather than try to explain the details, think of your eyeballs, if an infected person breath lands on your eyeballs, how does a mask protect you?
If the viral load they're shedding lands on your face, hands, literally anything besides the inside of your nose or mouth, what do you think happens to it?
Masks work by preventing it from coming out of an infected person's face holes, it doesn't magically form a bubble around a healthy person making them immune...
SaveTheTuaHawk@lemmy.ca · 4 pts · 114d
I'm not going to counter this stupid self-research argument from 2020, but respiratory viruses only infect cell types with the correct receptors, found in the airway.
Medical professionals, who know what they are doing and are educated, wear masks. It's not cosplay.
YoureHotCupCake@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 114d
Got it so I will need goggles, a mask, and frequently washing my hands/exposed skin. While this might not be perfect its better than going without.
I get what you are saying that infected people are the ones that need to wear masks to prevent this from spreading but I do not have control over what other people are doing and can only control what actions I make, and I would like to take precautions if this starts getting worse.
garretble@lemmy.world · 26 pts · 114d
So when is the next Animal Crossing coming out? That's how we'll know.
samus12345@sh.itjust.works · 12 pts · 114d
Neither Animal Crossing nor Doom have upcoming entries announced. We're safe for the time being!
EmpathicVagrant@lemmy.world · 5 pts · 114d
Death stranding 2 just dropped what do you mean? Those come after the chaos, the prophets are screaming.
samus12345@sh.itjust.works · 3 pts · 114d
It dropped almost a year ago; Covid hit around 4 months after the first one. I think we're past the danger zone now.
MastKalandar@piefed.ca · 1 pts · 114d
What kind of danger ??
ellen.kimble@piefed.social · 1 pts · 114d
GTA 6?
stretch2m@infosec.pub · 23 pts · 114d
Thank God we have a capable politician heading up Health and Human Services. And a reasonable President.
Oh, wait.
finallymadeanaccount@lemmy.world · 12 pts · 114d
Guess the antivaxxers better organise some rat feces parties to make sure their immune systems are working as nature intended. Soon, Alex Jones will be selling Ratvermectin: "The disease and the cure in one pleasant-tasting paste!"
CoolSouthpaw@lemmy.world · 11 pts · 114d
Whoa, whoa, slow down. I ain't ready for COVID 2 yet!
EmpathicVagrant@lemmy.world · 10 pts · 114d
Oh this is colossally worse. Is that a word? It is now. This has basically a few days where you’re ‘fine’ w/ cold symptoms, and next thing you know you’re dead.
caboose2006@lemmy.world · 5 pts · 114d
Yeah, but unless you're making out with an infected person, ya ain't getting hantavirus. This will not be COVID 2. I'd be surprised if 30 people total get infected from this "outbreak"
nickiwest@lemmy.world · 7 pts · 114d
Non-US research suggests that the Andean strain of hantavirus is spread through respiratory droplets, like Covid.
There are documented cases of infection in people who were just in the same room as the person who gave it to them.
MastKalandar@piefed.ca · 1 pts · 114d
That involves social distancing ??
michaelmrose@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 114d
It specifically infects the lungs. The normal method of transmission WAS stir up rodent shit breath in the aerosolized particles get sick with no route between person A to B. If its passing from human to human we have no idea how transmissible it is or as it evolves in a larger population of people than ever before how transmissible it will become.
We also need to know when in that long ass incubation period you become capable of spreading it. Ideally its when you become visibly sick but who fucking knows. If its much earlier it could be a fucking disaster.
MastKalandar@piefed.ca · 1 pts · 114d
Be prepared for more surprises.
EmpathicVagrant@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 114d
Don’t kink shame me.
nosuchanon@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 112d
Technically it’s Covid 3. The last one was SARS-COV-2.
Skyrmir@lemmy.world · 10 pts · 114d
We just sent a boatload of sample cases all over the world so countries can practice for the outbreak...
Tollana1234567@lemmy.today · 1 pts · 114d
USA has thier own version of hantavirus, the SIN nombre virus found in the midwest, in wild rodents, by the western deer mouse. i think the one on the cruise ship is milder and is more transmissible human-humans. while the korean and the SIn nombre is more zoonotic specifically.
MrSulu@lemmy.ml · 9 pts · 114d
Send in RFK protected by his healthy living and without a mask.
Spacehooks@reddthat.com · 3 pts · 114d
Nurgle protects him from the virus so he can spread nurgles blessings.
cattywampas@lemmy.world · 5 pts · 114d
On the plus side, probably no better time to buy cruise tickets!
SaveTheTuaHawk@lemmy.ca · 4 pts · 114d
Most of the diarrhea has been cleaned up!
Solrac@lemmy.world · 5 pts · 114d
Remember how they had that meeting a while ago? Just like with covid? Yeah, stock up long term food just in case
affenlehrer@feddit.org · 3 pts · 114d
Time to hoard toilet paper and ivermectin I guess
Tollana1234567@lemmy.today · 3 pts · 114d
seems the most lethal viruses are carried by rodents, and bats. rodents have hantaviruses, poxviruses likely originated from them before becoming smallpox. and bats with ebola,rabies.
cattywampas@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 114d
roserose56@lemmy.zip · 0 pts · 114d
Who, who, who!
BehavioralClam@lemmy.world · -1 pts · 114d
why dfq is always the guardian with the fearmongering? I can't take these guys seriously because every second article is something like this from some different threat. Also don't trust them since they fired Glenn Greenwald.
Mobiuthuselah@mander.xyz · -2 pts · 114d
People contract it by breathing in aerosolized fresh rodent feces and urine. It's rare to begin with. This is very different from Covid in the way it spreads. I agree it's good to be prepared with ways to limit its mortality rate in affected individuals, but these news articles are whipping up hysteria in a population that just survived a world pandemic of something that was highly communicable. Hantavirus is not.
prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 32 pts · 114d
Isn't the current strain transmissible from person to person?
MrQuallzin@pie.eyeofthestorm.place · 32 pts · 114d
The Andes strain, which is what is being discussed, is indeed spreadable person to person.
SaveTheTuaHawk@lemmy.ca · 3 pts · 114d
Actually is not. . One shit MD-based study concluded this, but all others say no.
The balance of the evidence does not support the claim of human-to-human transmission of ANDV. Well-designed cohort and case-control studies that control for co-exposure to rodents are needed to inform public health recommendations.
Then there's Reddit-Lemmy-Facebook University.
MrQuallzin@pie.eyeofthestorm.place · 2 pts · 114d
You're welcome to take that to Chubby Emu, who cites his sources as well about how it spreads. I'll take his well researched opinion over randos.
What a case of Hantavirus looks like
ellen.kimble@piefed.social · 2 pts · 114d
Wonder how the other passengers got it
Mobiuthuselah@mander.xyz · 2 pts · 114d
They could have all been exposed to the same source, for example, if rodents were in the air ducts
Mobiuthuselah@mander.xyz · -8 pts · 114d
Most sources say no. From what I understand, there is a variant in South America that is believed to have been previously passed human to human, but that may be influencing media reports to say it can be rather than differentiating that in most of the world that hasn't happened.
Edit: I see now that the article talks about the cruise ship having gone to South America. This still wouldn't necessarily mean that the virus is as transferrable as COVID was, but with the long incubation time, I understand the abundance of caution.