2026-05-05 17:16 UTC
Researchers have only documented human-to-human spread for one hantavirus: Andes virus. The assumption has been that that is likely the culprit here, but we're waiting for confirmation from viral sequencing being done in South Africa (though I've heard from reliable sources it is indeed Andes virus)
Replies (2)
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@kakape@mas.to 2026-05-05 17:17
It's important to note that even Andes virus has only been shown to spread human-to-human in a few cases with close contact. (In fact, some researchers aren't really satisfied with those either.) So important to keep an open mind. In theory, the cases could all have been infected another way.
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@FediThing@social.chinwag.org 2026-05-05 17:35
@kakape The Wikipedia description is terrifying: "In humans, infection leads to HPS, an illness characterized by an early phase of mild and moderate symptoms such as fever, headache, and fatigue, followed by sudden respiratory failure. The case fatality rate from infection is high, at about 40%." Hopefully the difficulty of human to human transmission means it's not something to worry about?