Title. Apparently there is a cruise ship quarantined right now because of this. And a guy at work was telling me some of the staff escaped? Not sure what exactly is going on but is it cause for concern?

  • sidelove@lemmy.world
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    26 days ago

    To add on to the points here, hantavirus is lethal in a way that doesn’t translate to widespread pandemics easily. Coronavirus is unique in that while it was 5:1 more lethal than similarly transmissible airborn viruses, that was the “Goldilocks zone” for a virus with its lethality and transmissibility to do maximum damage. Lots of excess death, but the average person generally only had a slightly rough go of it. Hantavirus has >30% lethality in many forms, and is extremely likely to burn itself out before any sort of epidemic status.

    So ultimately, very unfortunate for those that contract it, but its characteristics put it way below pretty much every other airborn illness in terms of what keeps me up at night.

    • Starya67@lemmy.world
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      26 days ago

      Covid plays the long game, though. People who only had a rough time of it can die as a result of it years later.

      • Fushuan [he/him]@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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        26 days ago

        Sure, but that’s the point, it’s not lethal enough to kill you faster than you can spread it, yet lethal enough that you can’t discount the aftereffects.

      • neukenindekeuken@sh.itjust.works
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        26 days ago

        That’s true of all flu strains.

        COVID is just the one we’ve studied the most, because of the pandemic and the number of cases.

        There’s a lot of studies showing that “regular” flu strains can cause lasting damage to cardiovascular systems years/decades down the road.

        COVID is just the most prominent flu strain, and the one we have collected the most data on. But all flues are really, really bad for you long term if you get them.

        • Starya67@lemmy.world
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          26 days ago

          Does the flu cause heart attacks and strokes due to vein and arterial damage?

          Covid is a systemic disease, flu is a respiratory disease.

    • a_gee_dizzle@lemmy.caOP
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      26 days ago

      From what I understand, you fan still have a really deadly virus thats super contagious, as long as there is a window of time where a host can spread the virus asymptomatically (then, once its spread, they started getting hit hard with the symptoms). I’m guessing hantavirus doesn’t have this characteristic?

    • neukenindekeuken@sh.itjust.works
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      26 days ago

      Exactly this.

      It’s macabre, but its high mortality rate and small window of transmissibility before symptoms appear, pretty much keeps this from becoming a pandemic. It’s too effective at killing the host.

      Something like COVID survives because it has a mortality rate a hundredth of this, but has a huge window of transmissibility before symptoms start appearing, or the symptoms are very mild.

      The larger that window, the scarier a virus gets.

      Hentavirus is terrifying if you do contract it, because you’ve got roughly a 1 in 3 chance of dying, but that mortality rate is also the reason why it’s not going to spread to every corner of the world.

  • Platypus@sh.itjust.works
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    26 days ago

    Not very, it spreads human to human but much less aggressively than flu or covid.

    “We do believe that there may be some human-to-human transmission that’s happening among the really close contacts, the husband and wife, people who’ve shared cabins,” said Maria Van Kerkhove, the director of epidemic and pandemic management at the World Health Organization, speaking at a press conference on Tuesday.

    However, Debbink says, if this is indeed human-to-human transmission, the virus does not seem to be highly transmissible because then “you would have a lot more cases on the cruise ship, just from people being around each other in pretty close proximity.”

    Per NPR

  • aburrito@sh.itjust.works
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    26 days ago

    Worried? No. Earmark it though. Every few years there’s a new potential bug it’s just part of being a species, this one looks gnarly but too soon to tell. That being said, wear masks courteously and wash your hands. If things get bad again we’ll all find out together

  • Starya67@lemmy.world
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    26 days ago

    I sat next to an army medic of the German-French brigade at a concert yesterday. When I scooted closer to her because other people wanted to sit down I said “Don’t worry, I don’t have the hanta virus” and she said “How do you know? You could catch it on the Schwäbische Alb, it’s not a tropical virus.”

    So I’m not particularly worried, especially because journalists are notoriously bad at interpreting WHO communications.

  • Windex007@lemmy.world
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    26 days ago

    Not at all. Not even a little bit.

    Human-to-human transmission is extremely rare.

    You get it from mouse shit. It’s significantly more likely that the people who got it were all exposed to the same mouse shit than it is that they gave it to each other.

    You should be way more worried about the mice on that ship coming off and shitting.

    Edit: This strain is a little contagious. Still shouldn’t be concerned.

    • a_gee_dizzle@lemmy.caOP
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      26 days ago

      This gives me flashbacks. I close my eyes and I see empty toilet paper shelves. The horror

      • Lost_My_Mind@lemmy.world
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        26 days ago

        Whats weird is, unrelated to the pandemic, I always buy the massive pack of toilet paper. I think it’s like 28 rolls. And I had bought that JUST before all the panic. It’s just how I naturally do this. Buy the big one, and like a year later it runs out.

        Then the panic starts, and my mom calls, and says “I was out shopping and picked you up some toilet paper, in case you need it!”

        “Oh, I’m good. I just bought some.”

        “Just take the damn toilet paper! These shelfs are empty! You don’t know when you’ll get some!”

        Gives me ANOTHER of the same size I just bought.

        Then my dad calls.

        “Hey, I know you sometimes have trouble finding time to go grocery shopping, so I got you some toilet paper. These stores are going crazy!”

        “Oh, no no. I have more then enough.”

        “I already bought it, and I don’t think you can return toilet paper.”

        Gives me a 16 roll pack.

        Then my sister calls.

        “Heeeeeey, I was out at Costco earlier, and these stores are running out of toilet paper. Luckily I got each of us a 60 roll pack.”

        “Nooooooo…I have so much as it is! Mom AND dad gave me a bunch.”

        “Well I don’t have room in my house for all this! I got one for you, and one for (other sister), and one for mom!”

        gives me 60 more rolls

        Then my other sister calls.

        “Heeeeey, so (first sister) got me 60 rolls of toilet paper. I don’t like the costco brand. So I’m giving it to you.”

        "You know she already got me one, rigUS #+ “Well I don’t like it. So now its yours.”

        gives me ANOTHER 60 rolls

        Then my aunt called.

        “Hey do you need toilet paper?”

        “NO!”

        “Geez, don’t get mad at me! I’m just helping you out. Take this, and only use it for emergancies.”

        gives me a 4 roll pack

        I still have a decent amount of toilet paper. Both 60 packs remain unopened. I haven’t looked in that closet to see exactly where I am, but I think I’m at like 60% unused.

        • a_gee_dizzle@lemmy.caOP
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          26 days ago

          Damn. I wonder how many other people still have toilet paper from the pandemic. Maybe if toilet paper companies are still seeing a slight dip in demand from people using up their backup reserves

  • neukenindekeuken@sh.itjust.works
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    26 days ago

    With a 35% mortality rate, the virus by definition can’t be too contagious, because it kills the host too quickly.

    That’s not to say it’s not going to be an issue, just that it’s not going to be at the pandemic/endemic levels of something like COVID, which is a hundred times less deadly, so there’s more chances for it to be transmitted.

    • a_gee_dizzle@lemmy.caOP
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      26 days ago

      Deadly viruses can be very contagious as long as there is a period of time where the host can spread it asymptomatically before symptom onset. As far as I’m aware hantavirus doesn’t have that though? Sounds like shit just hits the fan right away

      • velma@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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        25 days ago

        HPS is a severe and potentially deadly disease that affects the lungs. Symptoms of HPS usually start to show 1 to 8 weeks after contact with an infected rodent.

        Early symptoms can include:

        fatigue fever muscle aches, especially in the large muscle groups like the thighs, hips, back, and sometimes shoulders About half of all HPS patients also experience:

        headaches dizziness chills abdominal problems, like nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, and abdominal pain Four to 10 days after the initial phase of illness, the late symptoms of HPS appear. These symptoms include coughing and shortness of breath. Patients might experience tightness in the chest, as the lungs fill with fluid.

        HPS can be deadly. Thirty-eight percent of people who develop respiratory symptoms may die from the disease.

        Hantavirus can be spread once mild symptoms appear, which unfortunately are so mild that most people wouldn’t even think about it being hantavirus. And it can take up to 8 weeks for symptoms to start to appear.

        Edit: In addition, the fact that a flight attendant managed to catch it does speak towards it being more contagious than previously thought.

        • a_gee_dizzle@lemmy.caOP
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          25 days ago

          Okay so this is concerning. I do think there is some wishful thinking in this thread. I wound bet on it reaching covid levels but it seems some concern is warranted

          • velma@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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            25 days ago

            Yeah I last read that hantavirus has an RTO of .05 whereas Covid was like .3. I could be totally wrong on these numbers because I’m relying on memory, but hantavirus is much harder to catch than Covid.

  • Buddahriffic@lemmy.world
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    25 days ago

    It doesn’t spread person to person so it won’t have the explosive growth and spread to all corners of the globe like covid.

    Edit: this one might, though it isn’t clear yet and if it does, it seems to require close contact or at least isn’t as explosive as covid.

      • Holytimes@sh.itjust.works
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        25 days ago

        Well then you have two options beyond the standard practices such as basic hygiene, food safety, etc.

        Panic, freak out and lock your self in a hole.

        Or trust that the people who’s actual job to handle this problem will do what they need to.

  • gokayburuc@lemmy.world
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    26 days ago

    I’m more afraid of the World Health Organization than the Hantavirus. Whenever they want to confine people to their homes, they release a virus.Then the World Health Organization makes a statement.An excuse is immediately fabricated for the released virus.Men in white clothes appear, followed by masks.

    While all this is happening, they are inevitably subjecting people to certain systems.The first pandemic brought with it structures like remote work, masks, wireless payment systems, and online grocery stores.

    This time it’s universal citizen salaries, A global passport, an identity where all information is collected in a single source, the disappearance of cash, and digital payments are some of the structures of the future.I still don’t understand the point of killing people to convince them of this new global world order.