Hantavirus 'not the same as Covid' and Ireland would be 'very well prepared', says professor

Vivienne Clarke

Professor Christine Kelly, Consultant in Infectious Diseases at the National Isolation Unit, has said she does not have any concerns that the Hantavirus outbreak on the cruise ship MV Hondius will spread beyond the vessel.

People needed to be reassured that the Hantavirus was not the same as Covid-19, she told RTÉ radio’s Morning Ireland.

Two Irish nationals are among the passengers aboard the MV Hondius, which is currently en-route to the Canary Islands following the deaths of several passengers from the Hantavirus.

“It's a very different virus, and worst-case scenario if we did have a case in Ireland, we're well prepared for it, and the National Isolation Unit is in a good place to be able to deal with it.

"I think we'll need to see how people do, and I also think we need to be following international guidance. We will be guided by Argentinian experts as well as experts within WHO and ECDC. Our colleagues across Europe have been working really hard on this together.”

Any response from the Department of Health and the National Health Protection Office will be based on recommendations provided by the WHO and the ECDC, she said.

Kelly pointed out that the outbreak of the Andes variation of the Hantavirus had been “quite inefficient” in its human-to-human transmission.

“So you usually have maybe one or two transmission cycles passed from one person to the next, and maybe one other person before that outbreak comes to an end.

"So you're looking at within outbreaks the usual kind of maximum might be around 10 to 20 people, which is fairly in keeping with what we're seeing on the boat at the minute. You have to remember there are 149 people on that boat. We only have eight suspected or confirmed infections.

“I understand that people are afraid. I mean, Covid 19 had a devastating impact on societies both in Ireland and all around the world. People are going to be hyper-aware of that.

Hantavirus is a very different virus to Covid 19, she added. “That's borne out with the guidance that WHO has given us in terms of the fact that it's low risk to the general population in terms of the outbreak.

“Some of those differences are that we've seen that there have only really been infections on the cruise ship itself. Hantavirus is not a new virus and there have been human infections of Andes virus since the 1990s, so we do have information on it; we do know bits and pieces about it.

“Human-to-human transmission is quite rare; it only really happens with very close contact so there are differences from Covid and the incubation period is longer.

"What we do also know at the moment is that everybody on board the ship at the moment seems to be asymptomatic.

"It's really important to draw that difference because when people are worried about cases and infections, that's very different from somebody who may be a contact or may not be a contact and isn't sick at the moment.”

Robust plans were already in place for all possibilities – whether the two Irish nationals had symptoms or did not have symptoms. The guidance from the ECDC (the European Centre for Disease Control) was that people be quarantined.

There were tests available for the virus, and also PCRs (molecular tests) and serologies, said Kelly.