KING COUNTY, Wash. — Three King County residents have been identified as potentially exposed to hantavirus, though none have tested positive for the virus or are currently exhibiting symptoms.
Health officials state the risk to the public remains low.
The potential exposures are linked to the recent outbreak on the MV Hondius cruise ship.
One of the residents potentially exposed was a passenger on the ship and is being monitored at the National Quarantine Unit at the University of Nebraska.
The other two are members of the same household and are currently monitoring for symptoms at home in King County. Health officials say they were exposed on a flight from South Africa to Amsterdam, seated near a sick cruise ship passenger who later tested positive for the virus. The sick individual was removed before takeoff.
County health officials said the flight was more than two weeks ago, but they were only notified of the possible exposure by the state’s health department on Sunday.
KIRO 7 asked the state’s health department why that notification took so long.
“Notifications to health departments depend on case identification and traceback of activities,” wrote Mark Johnson, a public information officer with the state’s department of health. “Although the flight occurred last month, the ill passenger was not known to be a case at the time. That individual was only later determined to be a confirmed case of Andes virus, at which point traceback activities and notifications begin.”
The Andes virus is the only type of hantavirus known to spread person-to-person.
KIRO 7 also asked if it was possible that other passengers were exposed and now in Washington.
Johnson said the department has only received notifications from the CDC about possible exposures linked to these King County residents.
The two King County residents who were exposed on the flight are conducting daily temperature checks and are in regular contact with the county’s health department. Health officials declined to disclose their specific residential location.
Dr. Sandra J. Valenciano, Health Officer and Acting Director for Seattle and King County Public Health emphasized the current situation.
“I want to reiterate that there are currently no cases of the virus in King County and the risk to the public remains low,” Dr. Valenciano said.
She also noted that the ill passenger was on the plane for about one hour before they were removed from the aircraft prior to departure.
The World Health Organization states that symptoms of hantavirus typically begin one to eight weeks after exposure. These symptoms may include fever, headache, muscle aches and gastrointestinal issues, often feeling like a cold or flu in the early stages.
There is currently no licensed specific antiviral treatment or vaccine for hantavirus, according to the WHO.
It’s not the first time hantavirus has impacted the region.
Issaquah resident Samantha King contracted hantavirus from a rodent’s nest several years ago, an experience she described as life-threatening when KIRO 7 spoke to her in 2017.
“Doctors said, 45 minutes, an hour later, I wouldn’t have made it,” King said, adding that she had to learn to use her hands again after being in a medically induced coma for two weeks.
Unlike that case, this new outbreak involves a strain that can spread person-to-person, though health officials are quick to distinguish it from the emergence of COVID-19.
“When COVID-19 emerged, it was a novel virus, one that had not been seen before and there was so much we did not know,” Dr. Valenciano said. “In contrast, we have decades of information about hantavirus.”
The latest hantavirus outbreak has reached 11 reported cases worldwide.
As preparations continue for the World Cup, Dr. Valenciano stated that King County has strong surveillance measures in place.
“We have really strong surveillance in place here in King County,” she said. “We’ll be working with the Washington Department of Health as well as with our other local health jurisdictions.”
She added that officials will be “monitoring for a variety of things and surveilling a number of other potential diseases that could occur.”
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