What Is Hantavirus? The Hidden Airborne Danger Lurking in Everyday Spaces

A silent threat, long lurking in the shadows of human habitation, has once again exposed the fragility of public health systems in confined spaces.

A suspected hantavirus outbreak aboard a Netherlands-based cruise ship travelling from Argentina to Cape Verde has left three people dead and three others hospitalised in Johannesburg, raising concerns among health authorities over a disease that often spreads unnoticed.

According to AP, South Africa’s health authorities have linked the infection to rodents, warning that what makes the virus particularly concerning is how easily it can spread indoors without people realising.

According to the World Health Organisation, hantavirus is primarily carried by rodents such as rats and mice, and humans do not contract it from bites alone.

Most infections occur when tiny particles from rodent urine, droppings or saliva mix with air and are inhaled.

This form of transmission can arise during routine activities such as sweeping a dusty room, cleaning a storeroom or opening a long-shut cabin.

According to a Reuters report, health experts caution that vacuuming or dry sweeping rodent droppings can worsen the risk by sending virus particles airborne.

What is the history of hantavirus and how has it evolved over centuries?

Studies indicate that hantaviruses have existed for centuries, with outbreaks documented across Asia and Europe. In the Eastern Hemisphere, the infection has been associated with hemorrhagic fever and kidney failure.

It was only in the early 1990s that a previously unknown group of hantaviruses emerged in the southwestern United States, identified as the cause of an acute respiratory illness now known as hantavirus pulmonary syndrome.

The US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention began tracking the virus following a 1993 outbreak in the Four Corners region, where Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico and Utah meet.

The disease drew renewed attention last year after the death of Betsy Arakawa, wife of late actor Gene Hackman, from a hantavirus infection in New Mexico.

The World Health Organisation said in a statement Sunday that detailed investigations of the cruise ship outbreak are ongoing, including further laboratory testing and epidemiological investigations. Sequencing of the virus is also ongoing.

While human-to-human transmission remains rare, the WHO noted that hantaviruses can, in exceptional cases, spread directly between people.

The virus was first identified in the 1970s near the Hantan River in South Korea, from which it derives its name. Since then, it has been detected in different parts of the world, although cases remain relatively uncommon.