As U.S. citizens aboard a hantavirus-stricken cruise ship make their way to special containment units in Nebraska and Georgia for quarantine, Colorado health officials say they are not expecting anyone connected to the ship outbreak to arrive here.
“Colorado is not impacted by the hantavirus outbreak at this time,” Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment spokesperson Hope Shuler wrote in an email.
That’s a comfort amid a major global public health spectacle. (To wit: The British military on Saturday air-dropped medical personnel into one of the most remote settlements on Earth after a resident there tested positive for the virus following a visit by the cruise ship, MV Hondius.)
But Colorado also typically sees a smattering of homegrown hantavirus cases per year, and spring and summer are peak times for the disease in our state.
Given that the outbreak on the cruise ship is believed to have been spread person-to-person, it might raise a question: Could Colorado one day see a major human-spread outbreak of hantavirus?
It’s unlikely, at least from the virus that is endemic here.
Hantavirus is not a single virus but rather a whole family of viruses. As Shuler explained, Colorado has the Sin Nombre version of hantavirus, which has never been documented to travel person-to-person.
The Andes version of the virus, which occurs in South America and is what’s suspected on the ship, can spread person-to-person, though it is not believed to spread easily that way. In Colorado, the virus is spread primarily through contact with rodent droppings or urine.
While hantavirus infections of any type are rare in the United States, Colorado tends to be a hot spot.
The state was among those affected by a Four Corners-region cluster in 1993 that was caused by an explosion in the deer mouse population following an El Niño winter and a boom in spring vegetation.
Since 1993, Colorado has seen the second-most cases of hantavirus, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. There have been 37 known cases since 2016, according to CDPHE, and nine of those who were infected died.
In part because of that 1993 cluster, hantavirus is often thought of as a Southwest-y desert disease. But the risk is actually quite spread out in Colorado, as a map of cases shows.
Spring and summer are times of elevated risk in Colorado because that’s when people are typically cleaning up their houses and outbuildings and encounter rodent droppings. (Hantavirus can also spread through contact with live rodents, whether wild ones or pets.)
The CDC recommends that people cleaning up areas that might contain rodent droppings should wear rubber or plastic gloves and should not vacuum or sweep up the mess because that could spread little bits of virus in the air. Additional protective equipment, such as a mask, goggles and coveralls, are recommended if cleaning up after heavy rodent infestations.
People should spray the droppings with a disinfectant spray, let it soak in for five minutes and then use paper towels to wipe it up. Throw the paper towels in the trash and then clean the area again with disinfectant. Finally, wash your gloved hands with soap and water or a disinfectant before removing the gloves and then wash your bare hands again.
More information on prevention and clean-up is available on the CDC’s website.