A new and daunting “Hantavirus” outbreak has caught global attention, alarming individuals around the world, scaring many that this will be another coronavirus incident. Traumatized by the “two-week” quarantine that greatly affected global happenings for two years, people are immediately imagining the worst.
Senior Halle Engerman worries, “The mortality rate is so high; if this turns into something big, I don’t know what I would do.”
Hannah Beckley is a senior at Wilsonville High School and a varsity tennis player. When you wash your hands, make sure that you scrub thoroughly. Sing the ABC’s and don’t stop washing until you say “Z”!When you wash your hands, make sure that you scrub thoroughly. Sing the ABC’s and don’t stop washing until you say “Z”! Reasons: “I’m not nervous about it right now, but I hope they can get it under control so this won’t become another global pandemic.”
Hantavirus is a virus that only affects humans when they come in direct contact with rodents’ saliva, feces, and/or urine. It is extremely contagious in confined areas, in which someone may breathe in the air particles of an infected person or infected feces – solely cleaning out a garage where rodents have lived in the past could easily contaminate someone.
Initial symptoms of hantavirus include fatigue, body pain, fever, headaches, and can lead to difficulty breathing, resulting in death.
150 passengers boarded the MV Hondius on April 1st, 2026, paying anywhere from $11,000 to upwards of $25,000 for a ticket on, expecting a month-long luxurious cruise throughout Antarctica. However, an unexpected Hantavirus outbreak caused the voyage to abruptly reroute for emergency evacuations.
This outbreak is a result of the Andes hantavirus strain, one of the only strains that is known to be able to transmit from a rodent to a person or person to person. Alarmingly, the Andes hantavirus strain is one of the strains with a higher mortality rate, approximately 38%-40% of cases resulting in death.
According to the WHO, passengers on the MV Hondius got the virus either during or right after the voyage.
This outbreak raises concerns about how fast the virus will spread globally with the help of international travel and possibly global warming. Researchers are looking into whether the impacts of global warming, such as an increase in rodent population, will contribute to the spread of hantavirus.
Luckily, officials have claimed that the situation does not pose any danger. However, it is important to remember how easily and quickly diseases can spread throughout the globe. Wash your hands to prevent infection!!