The US’s withdrawal from the WHO – and cuts to the country’s health system – stymie officials’ response
The outbreak of hantavirus on the Dutch cruise ship MV Hondius illuminates major gaps in the US public health system – a worrying sign for stopping this outbreak quickly and preparing for a potential pandemic of a more widespread pathogen in coming years, experts say.
Passengers and their close contacts are at risk of hantavirus and need to follow public health guidance, but the danger for most people is near zero, officials and scientists say. Experts expect more cases in this outbreak to be identified, but they are emphatic that a hantavirus pandemic is highly unlikely.
“This is not Covid, this is not influenza. It spreads very, very differently,” Maria Van Kerkhove, director of epidemic and pandemic management at the World Health Organization (WHO), said at a briefing on Thursday. “This is not the same situation we were in six years ago … It’s very different.”
The WHO has been coordinating a response with several countries. But Trump pulled out of the organization soon after taking office, and US leadership has been conspicuously absent in the global hantavirus response, experts say.
Gotta keep people stupid and scared. That way they can offer a cure for a problem nobody has AND distract them from bigger things.
For those who don’t know, hantavirus is contracted by coming into contact with rodent urine and feces. It doesn’t get spread among humans. As the WHO said, this is not Covid 2. It’s some people on a boat who came into contact with some rats or mice. It’s not even comparable to a boat with an outbreak of Legionnaires’ disease.
It doesn’t deserve the media coverage it’s getting. Pay attention to the other stuff that’s going on.
It’s hentaivirus /s
Please correct this misinformation. The strain on the cruise ship is the Andes strain, which spreads via human-to-human transmission. https://www.who.int/emergencies/disease-outbreak-news/item/2026-DON600
Corrected and thanks for pointing it out! My fault for posting too early in the morning.
What misinformation? The post clarified that it is transmitted by touch not airborne. That’s completely accurate.
My post did, the one I reported/responded to claims its only spread by contact with rodents and not at all by human-to-human transmission.
Nah, I was definitely wrong. I updated my post to reflect that.
There is a strain of hantavirus that is passed from human to human, but overall you’re correct. It’s certainly not Covid 2.
YupWhat
Exactly
Remember when a 9/11’s worth of people were dying every day during Covid, and half of the fucking country reacted with “fuck your feelings, I’m not a pussy and I’m not wearing a mask”?
Based on history his response could range from dismissing it outright to shutting down the world economy, so watch carefully I guess
Have you tried injecting bleach?
Hentai is a virus but I’m not sure what that has to do with this 😁
Fucking weebs, now they’ve got their own virus?
1
well given our Coronavirus track record here in the US, maybe all the science deniers will die this time.
Fortunately hantavirus won’t become a pandemic. The people on that cruise ship got sick because cruise ships are fucking grimey and mice/ rat poop dust transmits the disease.
MAHA is dumb, but that haven’t quite reached the point where they’re encouraging you to sleep in close proximity to vermin. I mean, now that I think about it you could probably convince some of them to.
lol well i certainly hope it doesn’t become a pandemic. This particular strain is the Andes virus though, and it does spread person-to-person. Apparently it’s not as easy to do as with coronavirus, though? Also, if you think about any big city, there are a lot of rats / rodents in close proximity to humans, just like when the plague happened.
Not to say that I am worrying, or that anyone should, just that I don’t find anything out of the realm of possibility at this point.
It only spreads from person to person rarely, and only when you’re in very close quarters for a long period of time. It’s so rare that it’s been debated if it’s even actually spreading from human to human or just through being in the same contaminated setting.
Well that makes me feel better thanks
Less contagion but higher lethality is in my book just as scary. From what I read it seems quite lethal.
High lethality also decreases spread though.
Not as much with a 3-8 week incubation time
Depends if you’re actually contagious during that time or not. That was the big thing with COVID you can be contagious days before having symptoms. Where as SARS you would be symptomatic before you were contagious.
Last I saw there was a couple that was in a place known for this strain and they were likely sick before stepping on the ship. Cruise ships are Petri dishes, but that’s unrelated in this case as of the last report I saw. Also, from what I understand this particular strain does transmit person to person.
Also, from what I understand this particular strain does transmit person to person.
Odd considering every expert, including the ones referenced in the article, has said a pandemic from this is unlikely due to how hantavirus is transferred. Do you have an article I can read?
Edit: actually the article goes on to explain that the Andes virus can only be spread by close, intimate contact.
Could go full China and put people in camps and kill their pets with clubs when they sanitize their apartment.
While not a virus with pandemic potential, hantavirus is a warning sign that reveals how cuts to US capacity have severely limited the ability of officials and scientists to track and understand pathogens like these, with troubling implications for rare outbreaks and for pandemic preparedness writ large.
This article says there’s no risk from hantavirus, but the Trump admin isn’t ready for an actual outbreak.
There’s no risk from it under our normal circumstances, not accounting for current events or admin.
Infectious disease prep eliminated, vaccines are villainized and disputed, misinformation once again tearing our social connection, and so many financial strains that distract everyone from the news or little additional things that need attention.
