“No reason to worry” on Hantavirus in Borderland
EL PASO, Texas (KVIA) -- Hantavirus has been making headlines across the world due to an infected cruise ship where 3 people have died from the infection.
Hantavirus also has some local impacts, as Oscar-winning actor Gene Hackman's wife died from the virus last year in New Mexico. However, Dr. Armando Meza with the Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center says there's no real reason for us here in the Borderland to worry.
"I would not worry, but keep an eye out," said Dr. Meza. He told ABC-7 that El Paso is not an endemic area, which means it a virus has been identified in that region. Hantavirus travels through rodent feces, and El Paso is not high in that regard.
"El Paso is not an endemic area. We have not had any cases," said Dr. Meza. "Rats do exist everywhere, but there hasn't been any anything close other than in New Mexico."
According to the CDC, Texas has seen 49 cases of Hantavirus and there have been 129 cases of Hantavirus in New Mexico since 1993, but the vast majority of them have been in Northern New Mexico.
The New Mexico Department of Health told ABC-7 that there was one case of Hantavirus in Ortero County in 2014, one case in Lincoln County in 2017, and one case in Doňa Ana County back in 1992, which was found retroactively.
"Be careful with any handling of rodent droppings because there are other infections that you can get from rodents," said Dr. Meza.
Hantavirus does have a very high fatality rate. The CDC lists it at around 40%. However, Dr. Meza says it's unlikely something like COVID will happen again with this virus. COVID spreads at a significantly higher rate than Hantavirus.
Hantavirus spreads between humans in very close quarters, like cruise ships, or in households. It's not airborne like COVID. Dr. Meza said it's hard to see exactly how transmissible it is between humans due to ethical reasons for a study, but to their knowledge right now, it's hard to contract from another person.
"It's unlikely that with questionable human to human transmission and with isolation, you are going to have a scenario where you will see something like COVID."
