https://www.tiktok.com/@distilledscience/video/7638839833758059807
Scientists have sequenced the genetics from multiple Hontovirus cruise ship passengers, and here are the important takeaways. This is still a preliminary unpublished analysis, but it came from scientists across five different countries, sequencing the virus using an array of different technologies and then combining it altogether, which I think is super cool. First, the genetic sequences from all the passengers were almost identical, which is super important to know because viral genomes work like outbreak barcodes. If different patients have identical barcodes, it suggests that they're a part of the same transmission chain. The only type of hanta virus that we've seen pass from human to human. I know the names can be a bit confusing, but think of it like this. Andy's virus is to hauntavirus as SARS-CoVi 2 is to coronavirus. And Andy's virus causes the disease known as Hantavirus pulmonary syndrome, or HPS, which is analogous to COVID-19. So, the best current explanation is that the virus passed from a rodent to a human, who then came back to the cruise ship, and it slowly passed between the humans who were sharing the close quarters of that cruise ship. Now here's what's interesting. This virus is almost 90-000. 99% similar in its genetics to the Andes virus from the past outbreaks in Argentina back in 1997 and 2018, which implies that it doesn't mutate very quickly in the rodent population that it's living in, which is a good sign. Those outbreaks didn't get out of control, and signs are good for this one as well. This is not something totally new. However, after this report on May 10th, another researcher did some further analysis of the genetics and found that the outbreak from 2018 was not actually a direct ancestor of this virus. it's more of a genetic cousin with a common ancestor. The differences are small, so hopefully everything we know about the disease and its contagiousness from the previous outbreaks will still hold for this one. And so far, all signs point to it being very manageable, and not a cause for global concern. Tomorrow I'll cover the specifics of what we do know from those outbreaks about how the virus spreads. And I have a bit of a hot take.
Additional notes
I get that people are scared. We're all still traumatized from COVID. But if we learned anything from that, it should be the importance of spreading facts, not fear. Hantaviruses are not new. The name comes from a group of UN soldiers stationed near the Hantan river in Korea in 1951 who got sick, but later research has found that there are both “New World” and “Old World” strains that have likely been around for centuries. This is important, because it is a good sign that they have not caused any widespread pandemics in the past. And we’ve been studying them for decades, which means we’re not going in blind. Hantaviruses are typically zoonotic viruses, meaning that it can be transmitted TO humans, FROM animals. In this case, rodents. It can spread via direct rodent contact, or through their urine and feces which get can get kicked up into the air. When this happens, the DISEASE is called “Hantavirus Pulmonary Syndrome” or HPS, which is to COVID-19 what “Hantavirus” is to “Coronavirus”. You can find the full analyses on “virological org” with the name “Preliminary analysis of Orthohantavirus andesense virus sequences from a cruise-ship related cluster, May 2026” and and "Complete sequence of Orthohantavirus andesense virus: Swiss resident 2026” #science #hantavirus #tiktoklearningcampaign #learnontiktok #creatorsearchinsights
References
- Preliminary analysis of Orthohantavirus andesense virus sequences from a cruise-ship related cluster, May 2026. Mentioned as a virological.org analysis in the caption; no direct source URL, DOI, or PMID was available in the workbook row.
- Complete sequence of Orthohantavirus andesense virus: Swiss resident 2026. Mentioned as a virological.org analysis in the caption; no direct source URL, DOI, or PMID was available in the workbook row.
- Argentina Andes virus outbreaks from 1997 and 2018 are discussed in the transcript, but no direct source link, DOI, or PMID was available in the workbook row.