Where Hantavirus Was Found in North Louisiana

By now, you've probably read a story, heard a report, or had someone ask you about the 'hantavirus outbreak'. What people are currently talking about is the recent outbreak of hantavirus abort a passenger ship that was touring the waters in the southern hemisphere.

Sadly, at least 3 people have died as a result of contracting the virus. Others remain hospitalized, or in quarantine, with a total of 8 confirmed or suspected cases. There were more than 145 people aboard the ship.

But, unlike the emergence of COVID-19, this isn't the first hantavirus outbreak there has ever been.

Let's Learn About Bayou Hantavirus Cardiopulmonary Syndrome

Nearly 30 years ago, there was a Hantavirus outbreak that shocked the world. It was the first time a strain of the disease had it's origin traced to America...or anywhere in the Western Hemisphere. Initially, it was an unknown virus that seemed to be killing young and healthy people. So experts were working around the clock to find out what was happening.

While investigators were working to discover the source of the mystery illness, they found it to be Hantavirus. Which then sent them into overdrive to find out if they had been missing more North American versions of the virus.

This new version of the virus was dubbed 'new world', as previously the Hantavirus had only been found in Asia and Europe.

As investigators were combing the US for more potential cases, a pulmonologist from Monroe, Louisiana suspected Hantavirus as the reason for a recently deceased man in their care. The man died after a quick decline in the hospital.

The 58-year-old man went to the emergency department at E.A. Conway Medical Center in Monroe on June 16th, 1993 with flu-like symptoms. He said his illness started on June 14th, and he had a headache, fever, vomiting, and general weakness. He was waking in the middle of the night with chills and vomiting. He was sent home from work, and after nearly passing out, went to the hospital.

In the ER, he patient had a fever of 101, and had mild respiratory distress. During a physical exam, doctors found no abnormalities or concerning signs. He was given a chest X-ray that didn't show anything concerning. But the hospital did admit him to help with his dehydration and fever.

During his second day at the hospital, his fever had slightly reduced (but still there) and he was feeling better during the morning. Later that night, the patient did start vomiting.

By the next morning, his second day in the hospital, his vomiting, headache, and diarrhea all worsened. The respiratory distress returned, and at one point, he became disoriented. A second chest X-ray revealed inflammation, and the doctors diagnosed him with Adult Respiratory Distress Syndrome, or ARDS. They were concerned about sepsis, and transferred him to the ICU.

The third day in the hospital saw the man have to be intubated and put on a ventilator. They continued with a massive amount of tests, but couldn't come up with a cause.

As the fourth day came, the man had been suffering from progressive renal failure, and crashing blood pressure. He died that day...just 6 days after his first symptom showed up, and just days after being admitted to the hospital.

This strain of Hantavirus was named Bayou Hantavirus Cardiopulmonary Syndrome, or Bayou Virus. Investigations led to the carrier, marsh rice rats, which are common through the Gulf Coast region. The Bayou Virus fatality rate is around 50% in humans.

America's First Hantavirus Outbreak

In 1993, there was another outbreak of a flu-like illness that quickly turned deadly. This outbreak actually occurred prior to the Louisiana case, and was the catalyst for looking into Hantavirus in the Louisiana case in the first place.

The initial outbreak one occurred in America's Four Corners region. This area is made up of four US states that all connect in one place, these states being Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah. This region is mostly made of up tribal land, including Hopi Reservation, Ute Mountain Ute Tribe, Southern Ute Indian Reservation, Zuni Indian Reservation, Jicarilla Apache Nation, and the Navajo Nation.

On Friday May 14th 1993, a 19-year-old Navajo man was traveling with his family when he suddenly started having a tough time breathing. His family pulled over to call for an ambulance, but by the time the EMTs arrived, they had to start resuscitation measures on the teenager. He was rushed to an emergency room in Gallup, New Mexico...but the physicians were not able to revive him.

They teen had fluid in his lungs, and his family was shocked because he only had mild flu-like symptoms before he got suddenly worse. He was healthy, young, and was even a cross country runner. It didn't make sense.

But one area medical investigator recognized this scenario...because it happened just a month earlier to a young woman in the same area. She too was a member of the Navajo Nation, and died at the same medical facility...investigators believe that if they didn't die in the same hospital, the connection wouldn't have been made.

When investigators talked to the young man's parents, they delivered some shocking news. They had been driving to his fiancé's funeral...she died 5 days earlier with the same symptoms.

Her funeral was about to take place, full of family and friends, and possibly a deadly contagious virus. Doctors rushed to hold off the burial of the woman, so they could perform tests and an autopsy. The families were concerned, and gave permission to the investigators to do what they needed to do.

At this point, local medical personnel were alerting state-wide authorities of a potential deadly outbreak in the Four Corners region. As this was happening, New Mexico medical investigators were made aware of a similar death that happened in Arizona a few months prior...and one that just happened. Arizona is another Four Corner state.

All 5 of the deceased had been tested for a full slate of viruses and diseases. Some assumed it to be the plague, since there are various animals who carry fleas in the region...but none of the victims tested positive for the plague. They checked everything they could, from anthrax to influenza, they didn't show signs of any virus. The only thing the tests did was to help prove that all of the deaths were connected...since none of them were testing positive for anything.

Within days, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) was notified, and they began working on the case.

By May 24th, 10 days after the teenage boy died while driving with his family, the unidentified illness was now blamed for 7 people becoming sick, and 6 deaths. Three days later, the story hit the media with headlines of 'mystery flu'.

Weeks went by, and dozens of more cases were reported. The death rate of the illness was staggeringly high, and moved quickly. There's one story of a hospitalized patient who was talking and eating breakfast one morning, that was on oxygen by the afternoon, and died that same night.

Before anyone knew what was actually happening, the national media descended upon the Four Corners region. Sadly, their reports centered around the Navajo Nation, phrasing the outbreak as being a 'Navajo disease', which resulted in some racial backlash against residents.

But all of that was shattered, as one of the medical technicians who helped on the victims' autopsies suddenly came down with a severe fever, muscle aches, and flu-like symptoms. The medical tech recovered, but without knowing what everyone was sick with, there was no way to test if they had the same illness that had been killing people.

Another turn came as people outside of the Four Corners region started getting ill. As people traveled to the region to cover the media story, or to help with medical needs, they started becoming sick after they left the Four Corners region. This included people from the opposite side of New Mexico all they way to East Texas. Not just Navajo Nation members either...people from multiple races were getting sick.

The CDC was going into overdrive mode to find the cause. They took samples to their most secure facility in Atlanta, and started a huge list of tests against known viruses. They checked it against Ebola, Lassa, Marburg...and Hantavirus...but they were sure it couldn't be any of these, because hemorrhagic fevers are not native to North America, and none of the victims had traveled outside of the US.

But the CDC soon discovered identifying markers between their samples, and by June of that year, they knew what they were looking at...kind of.

Through testing on blood samples from current patients', and comparison's to the virus' genetics. They were confident they were looking at a Hantavirus outbreak...but it didn't match exactly to any of their existing research. Meaning they were facing off with a brand new Hantavirus, and the first of its kind to originate in North America. Prior cases in America had been brought to the country from those traveling to the states.

How Did The Four Corners Outbreak Happen?

After figuring out they were dealing with Hantavirus, but a new version, the CDC wanted to find its source. With most Hantavirus strains before, rodents were the most common vector (which is what was discovered in Louisiana as well). So the CDC needed to find the rodent.

They sent in teams to gather all of the rodents they could find in the Four Corners region. Nearly 2,000 rodents, and roughly 10,000 vials of blood later, they had their culprit...just common deer mice. A large portion of those they bisected in the first wave of testing were found to have the Hantavirus.

Soon after this, deer mice being checked for Lyme Disease 50 miles outside of Los Angeles were found to be carrying Hantavirus.

Estimates are that at least 30% of the deer mice population in the Four Corners region were carrying the Hantavirus, which led many to ask why more people weren't getting sick. Sadly, there were a lot of cases, but if as many as 30% of a common rodent had the virus, it seems like it should have been more.

There Is No Cure Or Vaccine For Hantavirus

After the Four Corners Outbreak, the US military started working on a Hantavirus vaccine. However, that was almost 30 years ago, and we don't have a working version. But some do not believe it to be necessary on a massive scale. While outbreaks of Hantavirus do occur, using quarantine, personal protective equipment, and monitoring tactics, these outbreaks can be limited.

If someone is infected, there's no 'cure' for it. Essentially medical professionals can provide comfort treatments, and for some versions of Hantavirus, dialysis. But its possible that the deadly part of Hantavirus infections is actually your own body fighting back, but getting out of control. So shutting down your body's own response is probably a nonstarter.

At the end of the day, is Hantavirus serious? Yes. But so is Cholera, Ebola, Monkey Pox, and the Bubonic plague...all of which get diagnosed every year, and occasionally have outbreaks. But are you truly worried about any of those?

Hantavirus Rumors and Innuendo

Most medical professionals have tried to calm down any panic that might be starting due to this new Hantavirus outbreak on the cruise ship. The odds of a massive Hantavirus outbreak are small. But that hasn't stopped people online from developing some wild theories.

During an episode of The X-Files, the Hantavirus was name-dropped. This clip has gone viral over the last couple of weeks. The timing between the Hantavirus outbreak and the government's UFO declassifications gives the clip a good reason to go viral online...but they even missed the right info in the show...

As we talked about above, the Four Corners Outbreak happened in New Mexico, not 'suburban Texas". The X-Files did do a good job working existing conspiracy theories into their storylines, but this one seems more like capitalizing on a well known national story to splash in some reality.

Outbreaks of Hantavirus actually happen pretty often. Which makes this a lot less worrisome than COVID-19, where we didn't have a plan by the time it arrived. We didn't know what we were looking for, and didn't know how to treat it. While we can't cure Hantavirus, we're better suited to stop the spread than with COVID.