SouthernWorldwide.com – Concerns surrounding an increase in hantavirus cases have prompted comparisons to the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic.
However, experts emphasize a crucial distinction: hantavirus has not shown the same propensity for mutation and rapid global spread as SARS-CoV-2.
Dr. Marc Siegel, a medical contributor, highlighted that the fundamental nature of hantavirus has remained consistent over decades, unlike the evolving strains of the coronavirus.
While both are single-stranded RNA viruses, their transmission patterns and behaviors differ significantly. Hantavirus, though rare, is primarily transmitted through contact with rodent droppings and urine, or in very specific circumstances, from person to person.
The Andes virus, a strain of hantavirus, is the only one known to have the capability for human-to-human transmission. This transmission typically occurs through prolonged close contact.
This contrasts sharply with COVID-19, which spread rapidly through airborne respiratory droplets, making it far more transmissible on a global scale.
Dr. Siegel pointed out that the coronavirus’s ability to mutate was a key factor in its widespread impact and the challenges it presented to public health.
“We don’t know why it started to mutate, but this one doesn’t appear to have done that,” Siegel stated, referring to hantavirus.
He further elaborated that the genetic makeup of hantavirus has remained largely unchanged, reinforcing the idea that it does not pose the same pandemic threat as COVID-19.
“So, there’s no comparison between these two viruses, other than that the single-stranded RNA viruses are both carried by animals,” he explained.
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The mode of transmission is another critical difference. COVID-19 is an airborne virus, meaning it can spread easily through the air via respiratory droplets.
Hantavirus, on the other hand, is primarily a secretion-borne virus. While it can be present in dust and droppings that become airborne, it is not transmitted through respiratory droplets in the same way as coronaviruses.
“It’s not airborne … in terms of respiratory droplets hanging in the air,” Dr. Siegel clarified. “It’s very difficult to transmit.”
He emphasized that while coronavirus actively spread among humans, hantavirus’s movement in that direction has been extremely limited, with only very rare instances of human-to-human transmission reported.
Cases of hantavirus in the U.S. have been documented for decades, but they remain infrequent.
Factors such as warming temperatures can influence rodent populations and their migration patterns, potentially affecting the distribution of hantavirus. However, these environmental changes do not indicate a fundamental shift in the virus’s transmissibility.
The recent outbreak linked to a cruise ship, while concerning, is attributed to the close proximity of individuals in such an environment rather than a change in the virus itself.
“The current outbreak stemming from the cruise ship did not help the cause,” Siegel noted, “but this spread doesn’t suggest that the virus has changed. Rather, it shows how close quarters on a ship are ‘very conducive’ to spread.”
He reiterated that the lack of observed secondary spread from infected individuals further supports the idea that the virus has not mutated to become more easily transmissible between humans.
Dr. Siegel suggested that a more appropriate comparison for hantavirus would be with viruses like avian influenza (bird flu).
Bird flu is also a predominantly animal-based virus that occasionally infects humans. For it to cause a pandemic, significant mutation would be required.
Similarly, hantavirus would need to undergo substantial genetic changes to facilitate widespread human-to-human transmission, as it is “very comfortable inside a rodent host.”
“If you get this virus, you’re in trouble, but getting this virus is very difficult,” Dr. Siegel concluded.
Addressing the broader fear of another global pandemic, Siegel cautioned against drawing direct parallels between different viruses.
The airborne nature of coronaviruses and their propensity for mutation are key factors that distinguish them from viruses like hantavirus.
“Coronaviruses are airborne anyway. This is not. And coronaviruses mutate a lot, and this does not,” he stated.
He expressed greater concern about influenza, which is airborne and readily spreads between humans, and can also mutate frequently.
“Most infectious disease specialists are much more worried about flu than this, as deadly as this can be,” he added.
Ultimately, Dr. Siegel emphasized that comparing hantavirus to COVID-19 is like comparing “apples and oranges,” and such comparisons can unnecessarily provoke fear.
