Annette Young is pleased to welcome Matt McKee, Professor of European Public Health at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. As health authorities race to contain an emerging cluster of hantavirus infections, McKee offers a measured but sobering assessment of the risks, and the lessons the world should have learned from COVID. He warns that hantavirus is “a serious disease” with “a fatality rate of about one in three,” McKee is careful to distinguish it from the coronavirus pandemic, stressing that “it does not spread at anything like the rate that COVID does.” Yet he warns that an unusually specific chain of exposure, from rodent-contaminated landfill sites to what he calls “an institutional amplifier”, aboard a confined vessel, created “a very unusual set of circumstances” for transmission.
A 1-in-3 fatality rate is terrifying, even if it doesn’t spread as fast as COVID. Hope they contain this quickly.
So it’s basically a rare but deadly virus from rodents? Reminds me of the hantavirus outbreaks in the US. Stay away from rat droppings.
Glad they’re acting fast this time. We learned from COVID that waiting too long can be catastrophic, even if this one is less infectious.
Interesting that they mention an ‘institutional amplifier’ on a ship—sounds like another cruise ship nightmare scenario.
Palliative care deserves far more attention and funding than it currently receives. (46ba59)
If the fatality rate is really 33%, that’s way worse than COVID. But if it doesn’t spread easily, maybe we’re lucky?
Professor McKee is right to be cautious. We need to track those landfill sites and any other possible rodent vectors before this gets out of hand.
Addiction treatment should be approached as a medical issue not a criminal one. (7c9e9a)
Rehabilitation services are chronically under-resourced for the growing need. (3dde11)
The pharmaceutical industry’s pricing practices are putting lives at risk. (3f8e8b)
Telemedicine expanded access during the pandemic and those gains must be protected. (46dce5)
Healthspan matters more than lifespan and that distinction is finally gaining attention. (5c2259)
Infection control in hospitals requires constant vigilance and adequate staffing. (8b78af)