The Windsor-Essex County Health Unit (WECHU) reports that the threat of hantavirus for local residents remains very low, with no cases reported in the area.
Health officials are aware of recent international hantavirus case reports, as stated in a release on Friday.
“The WECHU is in regular contact with federal and provincial partners to monitor the situation closely with the goal of keeping residents of Windsor and Essex County informed and safe,” the statement read.
The World Health Organization announced Sunday that it was looking into a possible hantavirus outbreak on the MV Hondius cruise ship after three passengers died from suspected cases and another became seriously ill.
Two Ontario residents who were aboard the ship are currently isolating at home and have not shown any symptoms so far, according to the province’s chief medical officer of health.
Hantavirus is a rare virus that can lead to severe illness, as noted by the Windsor-Essex County Health Unit.
“Typically, virus transmission occurs from breathing in air that has been contaminated with the urine, droppings or saliva of infected rodents… Unlike other viruses, such as influenza or COVID-19, hantavirus does not spread easily from one person to another.”
The chief of staff at Windsor Regional Hospital told reporters Thursday evening that there were no preparations or discussions taking place at the hospital regarding this virus.
“The hantavirus is not really behaving like a respiratory pandemic threat,” Dr. Wassim Saad said at a news conference following a hospital board meeting.
“It really has been isolated pockets of infection that are tied to very close contact. It’s really a zoonotic infection that’s transmitted through rodents. So I think the risk [of] … person to person transmission is very low.”
Hantavirus does present like a respiratory illness, and hospital staff take precautions whenever patients show respiratory symptoms, Saad mentioned.
But he added there were “no big alarm bells being raised at all at this time.”
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