Did you see a tweet from Polymarket that a suspected hantavirus case has been reported involving a high school student in New York? It’s technically true. But there’s more to the story and no reason for Americans to freak out about this particular case. Many people around the world are on edge after hantavirus infected at least 11 people on a cruise ship, killing three. American passengers returned to the U.S. this week and are currently at a quarantine facility at the University of Nebraska Medical Center where they’ll be monitored for over a month, according to NPR. The people aboard the MV Hondius who have tested positive for hantavirus all have the Andes virus, which is the only type of hantavirus known to be transmissible between humans. The more common forms of hantavirus all need to be contracted through direct contact with rodents. And that’s what appears to have happened in New York.
Kate Ott, public health director in Ontario County, New York, told ABC 13 that the suspected case of hantavirus in that area is someone who has been sick for a few weeks and is experiencing fatigue, achiness, and lethargy. The case is considered mild and it has no known connection to the cruise ship that everyone is concerned about.
