Hantavirus outbreak origin still a mystery, medical experts address theories
As epidemiologists race to find more answers to the origin of the hantavirus outbreak on a cruise, they have ruled out some theories circulating online.
Dr. Boris Pavlin, the team lead for field and humanitarian epidemiology at the World Health Organization, discussed the organization's current investigation into the outbreak with ABC News Sunday and stressed that while there are still unanswered questions, there are many clues that help to narrow down the origin.
He said he doesn’t believe the virus came from the Argentinian region where the MV Hondius left from, but rather all signs point to it originating in the Andes Cordillera region in northern Argentina and Chile, where the specific carrier, the long-tailed rice rat, is common.
"There's absolutely every reason to believe that this came from rodents," Pavlin said.
He said WHO has confirmed the first hantavirus cases on board the MV Hondius stemmed from people who previously traveled to the Andes Cordillera region.
"We expect that exposure happened in one of those locations. The exact location isn't obvious yet," Pavlin said.
One theory that has popped up is that the virus originated from a bird watching landfill in Ushuaia, located at the southern tip of Argentina, where a couple who were infected with the virus visited, Argentinian officials first hypothesized.
However, more information has surfaced that proves that theory unlikely, according to health officials.
Dr. Omer Awan, a senior public health contributor for Forbes, told ABC News on Tuesday that science has shown the Andes strain needs direct inhalation of the bodily particles from infected rodents, especially in contained areas.
"Bird watching is not going to lead to the Andres strain," he said.
The bird-watching couple who were infected and went to the landfill also visited Patagonia, which is over a thousand miles north of the bird-watching site, according to health officials.
There have been over 100 hantavirus cases and more than 30 deaths recorded in Argentina this year, and not all regions have the rice rat that is known to carry the disease, according to health officials.
Awan stressed that the probe into the origin is still early, and the most important thing that public health officials need to do is focus on containing the spread.
"The more important public health conversation here is to make sure the virus is contained," he said. "It would be the icing on the cake if we found out where the origins are."
