To think the Hantavirus will spreadif

[Jollyjupiter]

If they allow the cruise ship to dock snd passangers travel all over the world.
Symptoms may not show for up to 8 weeks.

Given the size of the population that is a minute figure.

I am not concerned but it does need to be taken seriously given this strain can be transmitted person to person.

Leaving that aside, it does show yet again that cruises are a really bad idea!!

Does it?

When there's a car accident so you say 'it just goes to show cars are a really bad idea'? Or if a plane goes down....''just goes to show planes are a really bad idea'?

Gene Hackmans wife died of a strain of it. I'm not bothered about it.

Given the size of the population (several 1000 cases a year in southern Europe) is a minute figure

Don't spoil it, @MrThorpeHazell ... you can sense the thigh-rubbing over suggested lockdowns already and it's mean to interrupt their fun

I'm not sure that's been proven. It's been proposed. But even if proven, you have to remember that cruise ships are floating petri dishes of crap. Their ability to genuinely isolate someone is pretty much nil. So if something is going to spread person to person, it will be there.

But the fact there have been several cases on board doesn't prove that IMO. They could be independently correlated, e.g. from a shared hotel they stayed in before boarding or if there is an on ship infestation. One thing I've not seen suggested but is entirely possible is spreading through food. I know. Ick right? But if the ship has an infestation, or if ingredients on board have been previously infested and there remains faeces in or around them, it's possible it could be spread to the passengers through what they're eating.

Even more reason to get the passengers off the ship IMO, not to leave them on.

No a catastrophist.

Apparently the Cape Verdeans use the Portuguese name Cabo Verde (roughly ver-day, but with less emphasis on the second syllable than most Brits use) or when speaking English they go with Cape Verde pronounced something like Kayp Vurd. Cape Ver-day is neither one thing nor the other.

Oh, and I'm not especially worried about this spreading wildly in the community, no.

No. Hantavirus does not spread easily human to human. Cruise ships create an unnaturally dense, close quarters environment where things can spread more easily.

Once on dry land, those circumstances do not apply.

@Lemonthyme That has been suggested. Grain in food. I suspect as it’s the Andean version, it’s originated in Argentina where there are cases of human to human spread. The ship went to Argentina. It could be an issue with provisioning and no doubt the experts will be looking at this.

What is significant is that this is the first time there has been an outbreak of this strain outside of Argentina.

I am not saying we are going to have an epidemic. BUT the above is just not true. The previous outbreaks in Argentina involved a party and a hospital. Sounds familiar??

It’s suggested it was picked up by the first two (who sadly passed away) on a birdwatching holiday.

Wait until the election results start coming in and they mangle the Welsh place names.
I often struggle to decipher where they mean. They even get Cymru wrong.

Extremely unlikely. I wish the media would stop scaremongering every death cluster from rare outbreaks/situations.

It sends the already anxious into spirals and seeking out unnecessary reassurance from medical staff.

Apparently it has spread person to person. They say most unusual. But it has. See BBC.

But the person above is saying that there have been previous outbreaks in Argentina involving a party and a hospital. Were those incidents person to person or not? Plus, Google seems to say that Argentina has been having higher than usual numbers of the virus for almost a year. No one on here has been panicking for the past year. Why? Because as usual, unless it’s involving us/the UK no one cares.

It’s already all over the world and there’s cases in the uk. It will spread either way sadly.

There are not cases in the UK. There are two not unwell people self isolating because they left the cruise ship a couple of weeks ago.

So, you'd like us all to panic then?

That'll help.

I'd say it's pretty difficult to prove person to person spread. But person to person spread of hantavirus is known to be possible, just not common. It requires very close contact.

So right now all we know is several people on the ship have had it or have it now. That could mean it's spread person to person. Or it could mean they've breathed in the same contaminated air (if there's rodents in the ship) or it could mean they've eaten the same contaminated food. The fact more than one person has had it, does not mean it spread directly from one to another.

There is no suspicion currently I believe that there is a specific strain involved here which is easier than any other strain to spread person to person.

There have been a lot of updates since you seem to have last looked into it as we know a lot more than that now.

Indeed - I ought to go out and clear the shelves in Tesco of bogrolls but I can't be arsed

The OP made no mention of Argentina or any country. Nor a party ?

Spain hasn't been blocking it docking at the mainland, it is much nearer to the Canaries, there's never been any suggestion that it would go to mainland Spain. The Spanish governement have said they have a moral and legal duty to help, and that's what they're doing.

The only place it's been blocked is Cape Verde, which the WHO have said doesn't have the capacity to handle it.