MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:
The hantavirus outbreak that started on a cruise ship is not the next COVID. That's according to public health experts, who say the risk to the public at large is extremely low. But this is a transmissible disease and, of course, a worry to the ship's passengers. In a few minutes, we'll hear from the CDC's former chief medical officer for her take on the U.S. response so far, but we will start with the details.
A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:
NPR's Gabrielle Emanuel joins us. So why are experts saying this is not the next COVID?
GABRIELLE EMANUEL, BYLINE: The biggest reason is hantavirus does not spread from one person to another that easily. Now, people usually get it when they inhale virus particles from infected rodent feces, urine or saliva. But when it does spread from one person to the next, you need to be in quite close contact. So think of a household or a nurse caring for a patient. Although I should note from one well-documented outbreak in Argentina, a few years back, we do know that it has the potential to spread in settings like a birthday party or a funeral.
Scott Weaver of the University of Texas Medical Branch told me that if there are no precautions taken, then one person will spread it to two other people on average. Compare that with COVID, where the number has changed over time, but it has risen above 10 people. And for measles, 15 other people get it from one case on average. So Weaver's confident this hantavirus outbreak can be contained.
SCOTT WEAVER: This is pretty close to the lower end of infectiousness, but it's high enough that we do have to take these kind of measures to prevent further spread.
EMANUEL: Measures like monitoring, masking, hand-washing. And another distinction from COVID? The time between being exposed to the virus and becoming contagious and sick is long, often multiple weeks. That can be annoying because you have to watch for symptoms, but it gives medical experts time to get a handle on the outbreak.
MARTÍNEZ: All right. So not the next COVID, but how serious is it for people who have it?
EMANUEL: It's serious. In this outbreak, we have nine cases so far, three deaths, according to the World Health Organization. Authorities say, in general, between 30% and 40% of patients die. Basically, what happens is their lungs fill up with fluid. However, that fatality rate is likely significantly lower because many mild cases go undetected. But it's still a big percentage, and there's no vaccine or specific treatment. And another thing that makes this virus serious is the early symptoms are very generic flu-like symptoms, like a fever or muscle aches, meaning it can be hard to know when you need to isolate and get medical attention.
MARTÍNEZ: What else do we know about how it spreads?
EMANUEL: Yeah. So it starts spreading right around the onset of symptoms and in very close contact, yet scientists can't say definitively if it's droplets in the air or the virus lives on surfaces. What we do know is this hantavirus does not attack the upper respiratory tract or even respiratory cells as much as it attacks the blood vessels which impact the lungs in the lower respiratory tract. That's likely part of why it does not transmit as easily as, say, the common cold. But scientists still need to learn more. Dr. Weaver actually had a grant from the federal government to study hantavirus, and the grant was terminated last May by the Trump administration. That worries Weaver. He says more investment, not less, is needed.
MARTÍNEZ: You mentioned an outbreak in Argentina a few years ago. What was learned then?
EMANUEL: It happened in 2018, 2019. And one man spread the virus to 33 other people, with 11 deaths total, so deadly but not huge. Researchers found that the genetic makeup of that virus was almost exactly the same as in an outbreak two decades earlier, meaning this hantavirus does not seem to mutate quickly. That's good news insofar as it's a known virus. And with the right public health precautions, it shouldn't spread too far.
MARTÍNEZ: That's NPR's Gabrielle Emanuel. Thank you very much.
EMANUEL: Thank you. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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