Dozens of U.S. citizens are being monitored for Hantavirus, including New Jerseyans, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
On Thursday, the CDC announced that a total of 41 Americans are under evaluation after potentially being exposed to the hantavirus. Two of the patients being monitored are from the Garden State, according to the New Jersey Department of Health.
Related: 2 NJ Residents Exposed To Hantavirus, Health Officials Say
Of the 41 being evaluated, 25 were passengers on the MV Hondius, the cruise ship on which the viral cluster was identified. The other 16 passengers, including the two New Jerseyans, were potentially exposed to the virus during air travel abroad, officials said.
As of Friday morning, nobody in the United States has tested positive for the virus. The quarantines are a precautionary measure due to the virus’s 42-day incubation period.
NBC News reports that half of the exposed people are isolating at home, while the other half are being monitored at the hospital in Omaha, Nebraska, and at two other medical centers in Atlanta, Georgia, and Kansas City, Missouri.
It’s not clear where the New Jerseyans are being evaluated. The NJDOH has not released any information about the potentially exposed individuals for patient privacy reasons.
“At this time, the risk to the general public in New Jersey remains very low,” a NJDOH statement read last week. “No current hantavirus cases have been identified in the state, and there is no history of a confirmed hantavirus case reported in New Jersey.”
What To Know
Hantaviruses are a group of viruses that can cause severe illness and death. The type identified on the MV Hondius, which has infected at least 11 people and killed three so far, is known as the Andes virus. It is the only hantavirus known that can spread from person to person, according to the CDC.
The Andes virus is mainly transmitted through rat and mice feces, experts say. From 1993 through 2023, a total of 890 laboratory-confirmed cases of hantavirus were reported in the United States.
Both the CDC and the World Health Organization maintain that the virus’s threat to the public is extremely low.
“We believe this will be a limited outbreak if the public health measures are implemented and solidarity is shown across all countries,” said Dr. Abdirahman Mahamud, the WHO's alert and response director.
That being said, health officials have shared information on how to detect and avoid hantavirus infection.
Symptoms include fever, fatigue, and muscle aches, especially in large muscle groups like the thighs, hips, back, or shoulders. Early symptoms such as fever, headache, muscle aches, nausea, and fatigue can be easily confused with influenza or other viral illnesses. Additionally, about half of all Andes virus patients have experienced headaches, dizziness, chills, and gastrointestinal symptoms, including nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, and abdominal pain.
The CDC says the best way to reduce hantavirus risk is to limit exposure to rodents. Those with a rodent problem should seal holes and gaps in their home or garage to keep them out, place traps in and around the home to decrease infestation, and clean up any easy-to-get food that might attract rodents.
For more information on the hantavirus, visit the CDC’s website here.
More — Health Officials Monitoring Hantavirus Cruise Passengers: What To Know In NJ
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