site.btaImmunologist Prof. Chorbanov: Hantavirus Risk Remains Largely Theoretical, with Low Chance of Large-scale Outbreak

The concern about hantavirus is mainly theoretical, but it should never be entirely ruled out. These kinds of rather exotic viruses, in terms of their global transmission patterns, do not pose a real threat because of the difficulty in how they are spread, said Prof. Andrey Chorbanov, head of the Immunology Department at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, in an interview with NOVA TV, when asked whether recent hantavirus cases on a cruise ship are cause for global concern. 

The vast majority of hantaviruses are transmitted directly from rodents to humans through contact with rodent urine and droppings. The problematic strain “Andes,” found in Latin America in the Andes region, has the rare ability to spread from person to person. This is why more cases occurred on the ship than among those who had direct contact with the pathogen, Prof. Chorbanov explained.

“This direct contact is not like airborne transmission. If there is one person with flu on a bus, everyone will likely be infected. Here, very intimate contact is required, such people living together, having close physical interaction, eating together, and so on,” he said. 

According to him, it is most likely that the people who boarded the ship were already infected. The main issue with the virus is its very long incubation period - between one and eight weeks. In other words, a person may have visited a location and had contact, tourists often enter homes, including those in Indigenous communities or poorer areas where rodents are clearly present, without immediately knowing they were exposed, the Professor said.

He did not rule out a possible local outbreak among close contacts of infected individuals, but in terms of a large-scale epidemic, he said it would be very difficult for hantavirus to become a serious widespread threat.