hantavirus

The reason why a hantavirus “pandemic” is very far away has a name and surname: long-tailed mouse

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The media coverage that is being carried out around the hantavirus is generating fear of the virusbut also mice. Even the president of the Government of the Canary Islands used Artificial Intelligence to check if mice swim, fearing that they could cause an outbreak in the Canary Islands with arrival at the port of Granadilla of the MV Hondius cruise ship. This particular piece of information makes for a lot of conversation. However, we are going to ignore it to focus on what is truly important. Should we be worried about mice during this health emergency situation? The reality is that not much. To begin with, we must remember that There are many different hantaviruses. The cause of the outbreak on the cruise ship is the Andes variant, the only one known to be able to be transmitted from person to person. Even so, it is still a zoonosis. That is, the initial contagion always comes from an animal, in this case a mouse. But not just any mouse. In the Andes variant, Its main reservoir is the long-tailed mouse (Oligoryzomys longicaudatus), characteristic of the forests of Chile and Argentina. Seropositivity has been detected in some other species of South American rodents. However, these are much more anecdotal cases. The vast majority of infections initially come from the long-tailed mouse. Now, this must be put into context and, above all, clarify some important terms. What is the reservoir of a virus? The reservoir of a virus is the organism, place or environment where the virus better replicated and maintained over time. Generally this concept is used to talk about animal reservoirs. These are the animals in which a virus reproduces best. Normally they do not experience symptoms, but their immune system does not attack them in the same way as ours would, since They usually develop tolerance. That is, the immune system detects them, but The inflammatory response that causes the symptoms of the disease is suppressed. Said in a very colloquial and simple way, it is the house in which a virus lives and grows most comfortably. Many times, humans are accidental hosts of viruses. They have mechanisms to invade our cells, so animals can pass them to us. Sometimes we can even infect each other. However, we are like a house in which they live in transit and discomfort, with the immune system attacking them in a much more excessive way. It would be that rental apartment that is falling apart, where you live until you find something better, if the house doesn’t fall on you first. In the case of the Andes hantavirus, Its main reservoir is the long-tailed mouse. This rodent does not get sick when the virus enters its cells. Therefore, the hantavirus can multiply in them, reaching very high viral loads for a long time. The long-tailed mouse lives mostly in forests in Argentina and Chile. How is it spread? A good part of these viral particles are found in mouse feces and other secretions. When these are dry, they can become dust, easily inhaled by humans. In fact, it is often spread when people in rural environments sweep in places where these animals have deposited their feces. Sweeping raises virus-laden dust. This is why, in areas where it is suspected that this mouse may be, it is recommended Use bleach and do not dry sweep. If this is done, gloves and a mask should be worn to avoid inhaling the dust from the feces. In the case of the cruise, it is not known exactly how patient zero could have been infected. It’s not even 100% clear who he is. But it is suspected that he could have been the first deceased, since he was fond of birds and went on birdwatching excursions in rural areas of Argentina, going into caves where there could be mice. When stepping on feces such a closed environmentthe dust could have concentrated in the air and caused the initial contagion. What does it mean that other rodents have shown seropositivity in Andes hantavirus? Seropositivity against a virus is the presence of antibodies generated by the immune system to fight it. That a mouse is seropositive for the Andes virus means that it has passed the virus. Plain and simple. It could be a reservoir or it could not be. It is known that he has survived, but it is not known if he has shown symptoms or if the virus has replicated efficiently in his body. The only mouse with which this is well demonstrated is the long-tailed mouse. That is why it is considered the main reservoir of the Andes hantavirus. Beyond that, we can only speculate. Of course, what is clear is that it is a virus that is only abundant in Chile and Argentina, where this rodent is mostly distributed. Can you swim? Yes, the long-tailed mouse can swim. It normally lives in forests where there may be bodies of water, which it sometimes has to cross to get from one point to another. Now, does this have any implications for the health crisis of the Hondius? The answer is emphatically no. First of all, It would be extremely rare if one of these mice had traveled on the ship without being seen. It is true that in the past there were diseases, such as the plague, in the spread of which the rats that traveled on ships played a significant role. However, at present this is highly unlikely. Plus, we’re talking about a luxury cruise. It is not normal for a mouse to travel undetected inside a ship. The most accepted hypothesis currently is that patient zero must have been infected outside the ship. On the other hand, even if the virus had reached the Canary Islands, it is one thing to swim through the ponds of a forest and quite another to cross the sea from the anchored boat to the port. We should not fear any rodent Could Spanish mice … Read more

Spain has done well in the hantavirus crisis

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What do the WHO, the UN, the European Commission and the European Council have in common? May all of them They have publicly congratulated Spain for the management of the hantavirus crisis. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus He has described her as “the role model”. Tough to the “mission accomplished” of Minister Mónica Garcíait’s not all over yet. However, there are enough facts already accomplished to recognize that in this mess Spain has not only done what had to be done, but has also done it well. An epidemiological bomb. When the Dutch ship MV Hondius set sail from Usuaia on April 1, 2026, it did not know the chaos that was about to be generated in half the world. The figures speak for themselves: 147 people were on board (88 passengers and 59 crew members of 23 different nationalities) and, as the days went by, the outbreak generated three deaths, (at least) 10 confirmed cases and 125 people evacuated thanks to an international operation coordinated from the Tenerife port of Granadilla. That’s where Spain comes in. An ethical success. Does it make sense for us to talk about ‘technical success’ in a context in which everything (absolutely everything) tends towards almost instantaneous politicization? Well, there are three things that allow us to see it like this: The international contrast: we must not forget that Spain assumed leadership of the operation after Cape Verde recognized that it did not have the capacity to carry out the evacuation nor that the Radboudumc university hospital in the Netherlands has had to quarantine 12 health workers for two consecutive biosafety failures. In contrast, Spain has executed the operation perfectly and, as far as we know, everything has gone according to plans and protocols. The social climate. Despite the initial refusal of the Government of the Canary Islands, Clavijo’s unscientific vaudeville and localized (and reasonable) protests by some unions, the operation was finally imposed through International Maritime Law (obligation to provide relief) after the formal request of the WHO. The relative complexity. It is not a minor issue, because organizing 10 special medical flights, coordinating biosafety protocols with 19 different countries and articulating a landing of these characteristics in rough sea conditions is complex. Above all, because everyone was watching and any failure had the potential to become a media circus. Is it all good news? Of course not. Whether we buy the terminology or not, the Canary Islands are right to complain that the Spanish Government has approached the matter with certain ‘colonial’ touches. Although finally, faced with the unfeasible demands of the Cabildo and the Autonomous Government, it was cut short; The truth is that the country’s institutional architecture requires a more respectful approach to competencies (or, failing that, designing a clear exception protocol for public health emergencies). What’s left to do? A lot. After all, there are many days of active surveillance left. The 45 days of incubation of the virus make epidemiological tracking very complex and the positives that have occurred after the evacuation only confirm this point. And beyond all that, a deeper debate remains pending on zoonotic exposure in scientific and tourist trips in endemic areas. We have turned the world into an amusement park and we are not aware of the risks. A few days ago we were talking about how the unlikely combination of an African bird, an American plant and an Asian plant had created a new habitat on the peninsula that was putting Valencian citrus trees in trouble. These “coincidences” occur in thousands every day and are, by their very nature, unpredictable. That is the world we face. For that reason, it is good news that everything has worked reasonably well. Image | Ministry of Health In Xataka | The hantavirus was going to reach Europe sooner or later and, as always, it caught us offside

The hantavirus outbreak has sparked a search to find its origin. Ushuaia fears that this will cost it its tourism

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Until a few days ago, the vast majority of Spaniards had never heard of hantavirus. Probably not Ushuaiathe capital of the province of Tierra del Fuego. The crisis unleashed by the MV Hondius cruise ship, however, has united both names in one of the most worrying episodes so far in the turbulent 2026, at least in health terms. And so worries in Ushuaia. A lot. Although there are still unknowns about how, where and when the viral outbreak broke out, in the southern region they fear that what happened affects one of the pillars of their economy: tourism. They even talk about a “smear campaign”. And the hantavirus arrived. Although there are still many months ahead until December, 2026 seemed basically doomed to be the year of the iran waroil through the clouds, Maduro’s arrest or (in another order of things) the North American World Cup. Now that list is expanded with one more item: the hantavirus. Since on May 2 A viral outbreak was confirmed on board the MV Hondius, the world is waiting for what happens to the ship, its passengers and the chain of possible people infected by a virus that until almost two weeks ago was almost completely unknown in Europe. In a place in Patagonia… In Ushuaia, capital of the province of Tierra del Fuego (Argentina), one of the southernmost cities of the planet, the evolution of the outbreak is also being followed with interest. Although there what really generates debate is not the last hour about the outbreak or what may happen from now on, but what has happened in recent weeks. The reason is very simple: the fateful voyage of the MV Hondius left its port April 1. When the ship set sail, there were about 140 passengers on board, including the septuagenarian Dutchman who only a few days later (on the 6th) began to show symptoms of infection. More than a month has passed since then, four long weeks during which events have happened at breakneck speed. That first patient died on April 11, days later his wife did and since then at least one more dead and half a dozen infected. As for the MV Hondius, after the evacuation of the last hours on board the ship there are only a few dozen of people who will continue heading to the Netherlands. What has not changed is the question that authorities have been asking for days: Where is the origin of the outbreak? Where the hell did the Dutch couple get infected? A remote landfill. Taking into account the incubation period of hantavirus, which ranges between one and six weeks, authorities are working with the hypothesis that the epicenter of the outbreak is not on the ship. That is, the most plausible theory (at least in appearance) is that the virus they took him to the MV Hondius one or more travelers who were already carrying it before navigation began. That made all eyes turn first to the couple of Dutch retirees and second to Ushuaia, the place where they embarked. In recent days the conversation has revolved around a very specific point in the town: a garbage dump located about seven kilometers from the center of Ushuaia, a place where, assures The Countryepidemiologists are looking for traces of infected rodents. Hantavirus infection, let us remember, is contracted mainly by coming into contact with the urine, feces or saliva of certain rodents. The most common thing is that contagion occurs by inhaling remains of this waste in poorly ventilated spaces, but it could also be contracted in a large landfill. The unknowns begin. That a Dutch couple (he 70 years old, she 69) stop by a mega urban garbage dump before embarking on a luxury cruise through the South Atlantic may sound strange, but it makes a lot of sense. The MV Hondius trip was not just any trip. It was planned as an expedition cruise to contemplate Atlantic fauna. And the Ushuaia landfill is not just any garbage dump either. Lovers of birds and natural photography usually go there to enjoy the species that fly over it, including scavenger birds such as the white matamico. In recent days it has been published that some of the travelers who boarded the MV Hondius visited the dump. The Country even interviewed to a guide who was in the area with some of the tourists from the cruise, although the Dutch couple was not among them. Did they get infected there? Is that the epicenter and genesis of the outbreak? Hard to know. First because the marriage (unfortunately) has died. Second, because before boarding the cruise the couple had made a long road trip that took them to different parts of South America. In fact, it is believed that they were four months visiting several countries on the continent, including Chile and Uruguay. “We have no evidence”. This fact (that the first deaths were in other parts of South America) has been strongly emphasized by the authorities of Ushuaia, who do not quite understand that the couple was infected in their territory. The reason? The main one, insists Juan Facundo Petrina, general director of Epidemiology and Environmental Health of the province, is that the hantavirus is not a problem in the area. “In Tierra del Fuego we have no record of cases in our history,” clarifies to the BBC. “Specifically, since 1996, when the National Surveillance System included it among the notifiable diseases, we have not had a single case in Tierra del Fuego.” More than 1,000 km north. As if that were not enough, Petrina details a few more facts. To begin with, the hantavirus endemic area is more than 1,500 km to the north. Also remember that there are no records confirming that the mouse subspecies that transmits the disease lives in the area. “And if rodents begin to move, since they do not respect borders, it is important to remember that we are an island,” duck. Another key that … Read more

The United Kingdom has just activated an unprecedented air mission over a lost island in the Atlantic. There is a hantavirus suspect

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In 1961, a nurse had to be urgently evacuated from Tristan da Cunha after a volcanic eruption forced completely vacate to the entire population of the remote island. For weeks, that small territory lost in the middle of the Atlantic remembered something that remains true today: when an emergency occurs there, arriving on time can become an extremely complicated operation even for a country like the United Kingdom. The forgotten island of the Atlantic. While dozens of passengers from the MV Hondius cruise They began to disembark in Tenerife between health checks and repatriation flights for a hantavirus outbreakmuch further south and far from the cameras, the United Kingdom has started an operation completely different on an island that almost no one would know how to locate on a map. Tristan da Cunha, considered the most remote inhabited island on the planet, has suddenly become the scene of a unprecedented air mission for British forces after a british citizen showed symptoms compatible with hantavirus after leaving MV Hondius. With just 221 inhabitants, no airport and almost a week by boat from the nearest major port in South Africa, the island was caught in an extremely delicate situation when oxygen reserves began to run out and the small local medical system found itself unable to face the risk of contagion and isolation alone. An unprecedented military mission. The British response was as extraordinary as the place where he was to be executed. The Royal Air Force mobilized an Airbus A400M Atlas from RAF Brize Norton accompanied by a Voyager tanker plane to carry paratroopers, doctors and tons of medical supplies to the middle of the Atlantic. There was no possible landing strip, so the United Kingdom took a unprecedented decision: drop military doctors by parachute over the island. Six members of the 16 Air Assault Brigade They jumped alongside a doctor and an intensive care nurse in an extremely complex operation marked by strong winds and a minimal margin for error. The jump was made practically over the ocean before to correct the trajectory towards the island, with the real risk of ending up falling directly into the Atlantic if something went wrong. Never before have British forces deployed medical personnel by parachute drop on a humanitarian mission of this type. Medical supplies were dropped on the remote island, which has no landing strip and has a population of just 221. The cruise ship that took the problem to the middle of the ocean. It all began weeks before aboard the MV Hondius, the expedition cruise ship that was sailing through the South Atlantic when it appeared a hantavirus outbreak which would end up leaving several dead and multiple confirmed cases. The case has been of particular concern because the identified variant belonged to the Andean strain, one of the few capable of be transmitted between people. Apparently, the British citizen who ended up isolated in Tristan da Cunha had abandoned ship mid April and began to develop symptoms days later on an island that, as we said, does not have advanced hospital capacity and is normally cared for by just two medical professionals. While some passengers were treated in the Netherlands or South Africa and others were isolated in the United Kingdom After returning from Tenerife, the British health authorities quickly understood that the real problem was no longer on the cruise ship, but in that small isolated community in the middle of the ocean where any worsening could turn into a emergency impossible to manage with conventional means. Geography as a threat. Plus: the operation revealed the extent to which geography continues to condition even to countries with enormous military capabilities. Tristan da Cunha has no airport, no regular air routes and its sea connections are extremely slow and limited. Simply evacuating paratroopers and medics after the mission will require a complex maritime operation carefully planned due to health risk. I was counting a few hours ago BBC that the jump was not made over a large open space either, but rather over a small island buffeted by winds that usually exceed 40 kilometers per hour. The soldiers, in fact, ended up landing at the local golf course while the island’s inhabitants improvised receiving medical equipment and unloading more than three tons of supplies for the hospital. All this to contain a possible contagion in a territory where any logistical failure can take days to correct. The unknown Atlantic. If you will, history also reveals an uncomfortable reality about major modern health and geopolitical crises: almost all the attention tends to be focused on in visible places and connected while huge peripheral spaces remain out of focus until an emergency breaks out. Thus, while the media focus has followed the arrival of the cruise ship to the Canary Islands minute by minute, the hantavirus has ended up activating parachute dropsmilitary doctors and extreme logistical operations on Tristan da Cunha, a place so remote that even a relatively small health emergency forced resources to be mobilized normally associated with war scenarios or major catastrophes. Image | Ministry of Defense In Xataka | It is not so contagious, but it is very lethal: in Argentina the hantavirus went from 17% to 33% in the blink of an eye In Xataka | We believed that hantavirus did not jump between humans. Until someone went to a birthday party in Argentina

the search against time to locate the “loose ends” of the hantavirus cruise

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Although how much the experts insist In which the risk for the populations is very low, the fear of the hantavirus continues to travel through each of the countries through which the passengers of the MV Hondius have circulated. Actually, it’s normal. Fear is a very human emotion, which helps us be alert in situations as new as this one. There is considerable uncertainty in this situation, especially in relation to passengers who got off the ship before the hantavirus outbreak was confirmed. However, little by little this uncertainty is fading as information about their countries of origin arrives. Saint Helena, April 24, 2026. On April 24, 13 days after the death of the first infected passenger with hantavirus, the ship made a stop on the British island of Saint Helena. He took the opportunity to lower the body and prepare it for repatriation. His wife traveled with him, who became the second victim, after traveling to South Africa. In addition to the two deceased, it is known that on the island another 28 people got off. It was not yet known that the first victim had a contagious virusso no passenger control was carried out. Then what? Since it became known that there was a hantavirus outbreak on the ship, attempts have been made to locate those 28 people and their close contacts. It is known that among them there were passengers of at least 12 different nationalities. There were mainly British and Americans, but also people from other countries such as Singapore, Canada or Germany, among others. The countries of origin or residence of each of them have also been taking charge. Thus, some have already achieved the goal of finding them and putting them in quarantine. From the United States to Singapore. In the United States there are five people in quarantinespread across Texas, California, Arizona and Georgia. In Singapore too have been quarantined and to the two passengers who got off in Santa Elena. France had no citizens among that group of passengers, but has quarantined eight citizens who were in contact with one of those people on a flight from Saint Helena to Johannesburg. In short, many of these people are already under observation, although it is true that there are others to be identified and monitored. Many of the passengers who got off in Santa Elena have already been identified. It is not very contagious. The positive part of all this is that hantavirus is not as contagious as other pathogens with pandemic potential such as the COVID-19 coronavirus. In general, contagion between people, which only occurs with Andes variant (that of the boat), requires very close contacts. It is possible that he was a super-spreader on board the cruise ship. That is, a person from whose body a virus is transmitted exceptionally well. We saw some cases with COVID-19, for example. However, it is normal that the rest of those infected are not super-spreaders. Furthermore, it cannot be ruled out that there were several simultaneous infections when coming into contact with mice on an excursion. It would not be a patient who is super contagious, but there could have been an initial event that caused a good part of the cases. In both scenarios, the contagion capacity would decrease over time. dead end. Another positive point about hantavirus is that has what is known as a dead end. It cannot be contagious continuously. It is known that, at most, it usually reaches three links. That is, one person infects another, that second infected person passes the disease to a third and that’s it. The chain cuts itself. For this reason, even if some of the people who got off in Santa Elena could continue to be contagious, they would not infect many people beyond their closest contacts. And what about those who are still on the boat? Spain is prepared to repatriate all passengers, with or without symptoms, or treat whoever is necessary. In that case, the transfer will be carried out with the necessary safety conditions so that there are no more infections. Therefore, from now on, the important thing is that these people undergo the necessary quarantines. Each country will decide how long they will be, but always taking into account that the incubation time in the most extreme cases can exceed 40 days. Easy to detect. The genome of this virus is very well known. For this reason, the diagnosis is simple through PCR. This test will be carried out on passengers on several occasions during the quarantine, to check their evolution. They cannot be discharged without repeating it once again. That said, although it is logical that uncertainty worries us, it is important that we keep in mind the limited pandemic potential of this virus. There is a lot of work to be done to ensure that the situation does not get worse, but there are already many people working on it. Image | CDC/Magnific | Fdesroches In Xataka | We believed that hantavirus did not jump between humans. Until someone went to a birthday party in Argentina

We believed that hantavirus did not jump between humans. Until someone went to a birthday party in Argentina

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In recent weeks, the term ‘hantavirus‘ is on the lips of many people, and it is no wonder to the big outbreak that has emerged in the middle of the ocean on a luxury cruise ship. As time goes by, there is more and more data that we have on the table, since we have gone from having the idea of ​​being faced with a virus no possibility of transmission between humans to a scenario in which this is possible and has already occurred. What we knew. When we think about hantavirus, epidemiology usually leads us to a very specific scenario, such as rural areas with infected rodents and humans who become ill by inhaling particles of their excrement. The cycle usually ends there, in an evolutionary dead end that goes no further. However, there is an exception, which is the Andes variant of this hantavirus, which has a high lethality and circulates mainly in South America, being the only one that can be transmitted from person to person. It is not a new phenomenon, but its propagation mechanism, strongly linked to social events and the so-called “superspreaders“, makes it a pathogen of special surveillance, as has been demonstrated by the recent large outbreaks in Argentina and its impact now on an international cruise ship with people who are not currently under control due to its long incubation period. His past. To understand the magnitude of the problem, you have to travel back in time and more specifically to the mid-90s where the medical community believed that hantaviruses were strictly zoonotic pathogens, that is, they were transmitted from animals to humans. But in 1996, an outbreak in southern Argentina changed virology textbooks. Here the publications of the time They made it clear that the 1996 outbreak was happening directly between humans thanks to molecular analyzes that determined that the viruses that were infecting patients were quite similar. A birthday. In a simple meeting between several people in November 2018 in Epuyén, it was clearly confirmed that something was happening with this virus. Here are three symptomatic people who attended a birthdaya funeral and a doctor’s office caused the contagion of 34 people, of whom eleven ended up dying due to the clinic that presents this very aggressive virus. This case set a great precedent, being the clearest example we have to see that the Andes hantavirus can spread in social environments without there being close and continuous contact as was thought until relatively recently. But the most interesting thing is the possibility that there are ‘super-contagators’, who are people who can more easily infect those around them and which right now may be the most plausible theory that explains this contagion on the cruise. Similar. Abdirahman KHALIF Mohamud, spokesperson for the World Health Organization, was the one who shown the similarities that may exist between this birthday in Argentina in 2018 and the case of the cruise because in both cases there was a concentration of people in a closed space. The tranquility. In the cases that are documented right now, which are not many, it could be seen that at the moment in which the authorities isolated the confirmed cases, the transmissibility began to decrease. But in addition, it is also known that when a virus is transmitted three times, there is no more contagion from it, so its capacity to spread is lower, which is good news. The problem is that there is still a lot of information that is emerging in this regard, and although there are experts who point out that we are not going to be facing a major pandemic like Covid, fear is still quite present. In Xataka | The hantavirus was going to reach Europe sooner or later and, as always, it caught us offside

The hantavirus was going to reach Europe sooner or later and, as always, it caught us offside

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Well it’s already here. After passing through Cavo Verde, the MV Hondius cruise ship heads to the Granadilla de Abona anchoragein Tenerife. It’s a huge mess (including infected animals, ships isolated for weeks, and very bad luck), but it’s certainly not a surprise. Although europe’s emergency response is working well, no european country had specific protocols, nor own diagnostic capacity for a virus that has been causing problems since 2018 and has been in an ‘active outbreak’ in Argentina since 2025. What is happening. Under the solidity of the emergency response and humanitarian discourses, a clear problem is hidden: European surveillance and its response protocols are calibrated for local hantaviruses, but not for an emerging pathogen from the Southern Cone that has been mutating for years, expanding towards northern Argentina and doubling its historical lethality. And that, in a context like the current one, is unjustified clumsiness. What happens with the virus? In Argentina, the Andes is an old acquaintance. It is about the only hantavirus variant in which “transmission between people has been described, although this phenomenon is rare and usually requires close and prolonged contact.” Therefore, the Ministry of Health comes defending that, whatever happens with the cruise, “the risk for the general population is very low and remember that interpersonal transmission of the Andean hantavirus is extremely rare.” All of this is true and explains, in part, the situation. That is, the little interest that the virus has generated in the public health agencies of the old continent. What happens is that, in addition to being true, it is somewhat partial: the reality is that, despite the difficulties it has in getting infected, the Andes is leaving its Patagonian niche towards more populated areas. In Buenos Aires, 42 cases have been detected this season and A 10-year-old girl died on January 8 in General Belgrano. The clue that something is changing has a much better indicator: the second province with the most cases It is Salta, in the northvery far from the Patagonian region. The other indicator is lethality. Because yes, although we are talking about very few cases, the lethality is also changing. The history varies depending on the year and region, but there was a certain consensus that it was around 20%. In 2025 (partial consolidated data) rose to 33.6% with 28 deaths out of 86 cases. The 2025-2026 season confirms the trend (31.7%) No one is very clear why this is happening; there are theories that speak of an improvement in the notification of cases and others that speak of greater virulence. Data from the largest recent outbreak (that of 2018) do not allow us to opt for any option. Should we be worried? As the Ministry said and all the experts agree, the diagnosis is unequivocal: “the risk for the European population is very low.” Human-to-human transmission is very rare (and requires close and prolonged contact), management appears good, and there are no animal reservoirs for these viruses. What happens is that the Hondius case It is a clear example of something that we have been considering for years: that the ‘era of epidemics’ has not only begun, it is operating at full capacity. All the factors driving the emergence of pandemic diseases have become more robust since COVID: in 2024, global air traffic exceeded 4,890 million passengers108% of the pre-pandemic level; and forest degradation in the tropics has risen 163% between 2022 and 2024. Meanwhile, population density in problem areas continues to grow and climate change continues to expand transmission vectors. If the question is what can we do…the answer is a lot, although almost everything is unsexy. The general feeling is that we have been forgetting all the lessons we learned during the pandemic. Image | Manuel In Xataka | The Andes variant: why at first we all assumed it was zoonosis and now we are talking about contagion between humans

While the hantavirus from the MV Hondius cruise makes headlines, the closest health risk is 10 km from any Mediterranean city

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When the MV Hondius left Ushuaia heading to Antarctica on March 20, no one could imagine the hell they were about to live: 150 people of 23 different nationalities, a relatively small ship and a virus that has already caused the death of three passengers. The Dutch shipping company Oceanwide Expeditions consider now docking in the Canary Islandswhich guarantees extra media attention. And yet, the health risk is minimal. In fact, the true health risk for Spain lies elsewhere: much closer. “Risk”? Yes, ‘risk’ is the word and the best example is Andalusia. March 2, 2026 the Board announced that its Strategic Plan for Surveillance and Comprehensive Vector Control until now limited to the West Nile virus will incorporate (for the first time) the monitoring of dengue, chikungunya and Zika. It seems somewhat anecdotal, but what it hides is a profound epidemiological change: not only Andalusia, but the entire Spanish Mediterranean is becoming the perfect ‘breeding ground’ for the mosquitoes that spread all these diseases. What’s more, all this coincides temporally not only with the largest dengue epidemic ever recorded in the Americas (12.6 million cases)but with the historical record of indigenous chikungunya in continental Europe. Dengue in Spain. It is worth stopping at this because, according to data from the National Center for EpidemiologySpain reported 1,119 cases of dengue in 2024 (compared to 615 in 2023, 503 in 2022 and 50 in 2021). It is true that the majority are imported, but indigenous cases are growing. It is not a minor issue: before 2018 We had gone almost a century without indigenous cases in Spain. What changes for someone who lives in Spain? Today, 66% of the Spanish population already lives in municipalities with confirmed presence of tiger mosquitoes. This means that the individual risk of contracting diseases such as dengue, chikungunya or Zika remains low and localized (without having left the country), but it is certainly on the table. As Pamela Rendi-Wagner, director of the ECDC, pointed out last year, we have entered a new normal. And we have to learn that this situation is not fought with headlines but by eliminating stagnant water in patios and terraces. It is worth remembering that the (immense) majority of epidemics in the last 40 years have not been due to unknown diseasesbut to known diseases that went beyond their usual niche. That’s what we’re about to see: a bunch of diseases moving across a continent that has no recent experience managing them. Image | Mithil Girish In Xataka | Mosquitoes attack me in summer and I tried these TikTok tricks to get rid of them

The three hantavirus deaths on a cruise ship suggest something problematic for something else: the colonization of space

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What happened on the Argentine cruise ship in which three people died from hantavirus is very sad and, of course, must be investigated. However, many news stories are being read in which it is used to bring to mind bitter pandemic memories and generate an unnecessary stir. The risk for the general population is extremely low, as many experts have been quick to assure. However, it does show how dangerous it can be to let a pathogen circulate in a closed, moving place, like a boat. We can even go a step further now that the space race is in fashion: what would happen if something like this happened on a spaceship? It couldn’t happen. Typically, hantavirus It is transmitted by rodentslike rats and mice. Generally, infection in humans occurs through inhalation of contaminated particles (usually dust) with their feces or urine. This means that, in most cases, the contagion is a zoonosis. The virus passes from an animal to a human. That in space would be impossible. Spaceships are monitored under a magnifying glass, it would be impossible for a mouse to enter without being seen. It is true that there is a specific type of hantavirus, the Andes virus, in which cases have been documented due to human-to-human contact. However, according to has explained to Science Media Center the researcher at the MRC-University of Glasgow Viral Research Center Liam Brierley, contact must be very very close. Contact on spaceships, where a few people must spend a lot of time together in a very small space, would be very close. But don’t panic. Sterility and quarantines. Each of the modules that make up the spacecraft are assembled in white roomsunder strict sterile conditions. Thus, microorganisms, pathogenic or not, are prevented from traveling into space attached to their surfaces. Regarding astronauts, they undergo all kinds of medical examinations to verify that they are not infected with any pathogen. Also, before traveling to space They must spend time in quarantine. This prevents the incubation of something that cannot be detected in medical examinations at the time of starting the journey. It wasn’t always like this. In reality, quarantines began to be implemented after the astronauts of the Apollo 7, 8 and 9 missions had to deal with a cold in space. Although none of them became seriously ill, they did report that the symptoms were especially bothersome in this very different environment. Therefore, it was decided to take even more measures to prevent something like this from happening. The Apollo 7 crew had to deal with a cold. Not all microorganisms stay on land. It is impossible to strip a human being of all the microorganisms that live in his body. The microbiota is the set of microorganisms that are naturally found in our body. Many of them are beneficial for us, as they protect us from pathogens or help us carry out processes such as digestion. All these microorganisms always travel with us, so it is impossible to separate ourselves from them. And even if you could, it would be dangerous to do so. Others that cannot be avoided. Nor can latent viruses be avoided, like shingles. Once a person passes the infection, these remain asleep in the organism. They may never come forward again or they may do so, usually at a time when the immune system is weakened. It has been seen that reactivations of this type of virus are quite common in space and the truth is that it is not rare, since it affects the immune system at many levels. Three basic pillars. Microgravity, cosmic radiation and the stress of being in such an inhospitable place are the three main reasons why the immune system is affected by space travel. Everything in its place. Microorganisms that are completely harmless in a person’s microbiota can be harmful to another individual, either because they are immunosuppressed or because their defenses are not well trained against that organism. enemy. It is something that, for example, happens with many microorganisms on the skin. It should also be taken into account that there are microorganisms that are harmless in some organs, but harmful in others. It occurs, for example, when bacteria from the digestive system pass into the urinary system. Be careful which direction you wipe when going to the bathroom. We cannot get rid of our microbiota. And thank goodness. Malted pathogens. We have already seen that it is very difficult for pathogenic microorganisms to travel to space. But it may be the case that an apparently innocuous microorganism appears where it should not. Or it may no longer be harmless due to spatial conditions. It is known that cosmic radiation, extreme temperature conditions or microgravity can influence the genes expressed by a microorganism. For example, in pathogenic bacteria, such as Salmonella typhimuriumit has been observed that in space They express a genetic pattern very different from the one they use on Earth. Besides, they become more virulent when they are off the planet. We do not know if some apparently innocuous microorganisms could also develop certain virulence due to this change of environment. An eye on the future. For something like this to happen today would be very strange. However, there are two scenarios in the future in which, perhaps, one of these situations could occur. On the one hand, microorganisms are deliberately introduced into the ships. For example, there could be microorganisms that transform lunar regolith into arable soil. It would be necessary to see if it is worth taking the risk of putting them on a spaceship. On the other hand, in the future space travel will be much more the order of the day. Then there may not be as many controls as there are now or, out of so many, some may fail. Just as globalization has led some pathogens to travel faster around the world, it would not be unusual for something similar to happen in space. We’re speculating, but it’s worth thinking … Read more

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