Health authorities confused by suspected hantavirus outbreak on cruise ship | #yahoonewsau

Subscribe and turn on notifications🔔 : https://buff.ly/3F6ZiLt | A suspected hantavirus outbreak on a cruise ship has left health authorities with more questions than answers.

According to Thomas Jeffries, Lecturer in Microbiology at Western Sydney University, hantavirus is a “rare but severe respiratory illness that can cause severe bleeding, fever and even death”.

However, infection most often occurs when people inhale particles from environments contaminated with rodent urine, droppings or saliva. Unlike viruses such as Covid-19, hantaviruses are not typically spread between people, except in rare cases.

The illness’ long incubation period - which infectious diseases expert Professor Allen Cheng says can range from “a few days to up to 4-6 weeks” - also makes it difficult to trace where exposure happened.

It raises the possibility that passengers may have been exposed well before boarding, with symptoms only emerging weeks later while at sea.

That matters because different hantaviruses behave differently depending on geography, with some strains in the Americas affecting the lungs rather than the kidneys, and producing severe respiratory disease.

Professor Cheng said, “The reports of this outbreak are of a respiratory illness, and the main viruses associated with these are found in South America, and it looks like the ship affected had been in Argentina… [but] the incubation period between exposure and symptoms occurring can range from a few days to up to 4-6 weeks - I don’t know where the ship had been over that time.”

Cheng said the priority now is confirming the diagnosis before drawing firm conclusions about the spread or source.

He added, “I suspect the main outbreak control measures will be to confirm the diagnosis, rodent control, and setting up systems to detect illness in staff and passengers.”

Read more: https://au.news.yahoo.com/aussies-stranded-on-cruise-ship-after-three-deaths-amid-hantavirus-outbreak-013606771.html

Follow us on:
► TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@yahooaustralia
► Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/yahoonewsau
► Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/yahoonewsau
► Website: https://au.yahoo.com/

#YahooAustralia #YahooNewsAustralia #BreakingNews #LatestNews #YahooNewsAU

Видео Health authorities confused by suspected hantavirus outbreak on cruise ship | #yahoonewsau канала Yahoo News Australia