HantaWatch Real time hantavirus outbreak tracker

(hantawatch.net)

26 points | by Accher 9 hours ago ago

28 comments

  • HarHarVeryFunny 36 minutes ago ago

    Apparently it's basically spread by contact with rat droppings/urine, not human-to-human contact.

    Hopefully this is true, since otherwise it's a bit concerning - taking weeks before symptoms show, giving it plenty of time to spread.

  • GenKali 3 hours ago ago

    I do love (do I?) that as I get older the early symptoms of most diseases are usually just me on a bad day:

    Fatigue, headache, abdominal pain, muscle aches - could be hantavirus, could be waking up in a weird position after slightly undercooked chicken stew for supper

  • vintagedave 6 hours ago ago

    Helpful website, but the cookie settings show hundreds of partners. Deeply unethical in general, let alone for a site that will be read by those who are worried and want information.

    • throawayonthe 6 hours ago ago

      also the font, the symptoms section, and looking at the html gives LLM vibes somehow

      and seemingly no info on who made/operates it?

      • etiam 5 hours ago ago

        Symptoms section is very LLM, and that includes why it's obviously urging that critical early recognition on symptom lists that are too nonspecific to really be actionable. Imagine the workload if people started seeking medical examinations on basis of the Week 1-2 list.

      • duskdozer 5 hours ago ago

        Yes it's very obviously vibecoded and looks nearly identical to the other hantavirus tracker posted by a new user today

        • Rohunyyy 5 hours ago ago

          I wish the world wasn't like this, but I think we are wayyyy past the point of whether something is LLM generated or not.

    • shellfishgene 6 hours ago ago

      I just get Error: SEC_ERROR_UNKNOWN_ISSUER from Firefox and Edge.

  • defrost 6 hours ago ago

    Re current top item:

      Flight Attendant in Netherlands Tested for Hantavirus
    
      Stewardess who was briefly on Johannesburg-Amsterdam flight admitted to Amsterdam UMC on May 7. Tests expected today.
    
    See:

    KLM flight attendant tested negative for hantavirus infection, WHO says - https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/...

  • rich_sasha 3 hours ago ago

    This is of course very bad for the people involved, but is there any indication that the matter deserves the amount of public attention that it has?

    My understanding is, unfortunate souls got infected with nasty disease that hardly crosses between humans, end of story. Am I missing something?

    • duskdozer 2 hours ago ago

      Generally the best time to deal with potential mass infections is before they become uncontrollable. If you act properly and stop a disaster before it becomes one, the situation will be indistinguishable from an overreaction.

    • wartywhoa23 3 hours ago ago

      You're missing the imperative to keep the populace depressed, apathetic and scared to death.

  • SapporoChris 2 hours ago ago

    The number of cases of hantavirus annually is incredibly low. There's absolutely no reason to track cases.

    • elashri 2 hours ago ago

      I hope that you are right and it keep being such. And that it would not be another December 2019.

      • SapporoChris an hour ago ago

        I think we are safe from a pandemic. Hantavirus is primarily transmitted through inhaling virus particles from rodent urine, droppings, or saliva that become airborne.

  • tasuki 6 hours ago ago

    I like that we, the humanity, have started paying attention to virus outbreaks. Compared to "real" pandemics, COVID-19 was rather mild, but it helped raise awareness. I think we're now much better prepared and equipped for the eventual real pandemic.

    • neals 5 hours ago ago

      Are we? I feel like we're cruising and flying a boat full of potentially infected people to 23 counties.

    • 113 5 hours ago ago

      Millions of people died and the main takeaway for the US seems to be giving up vaccines and cutting programs that would mitigate future disasters. Not sure how you've come to that conclusion.

      • jrmg 9 minutes ago ago

        There’d’ve been be no cases if we just hadn’t done testing.

    • roelschroeven 5 hours ago ago

      I don't really think so. Already in the first stages of this outbreak we're not doing any quarantine, instead we're infecting airline passengers and personnel and let them spread the virus uncontrolled. That doesn't indicate a proper prepared response.

      Official knowledge is that Hanta transmission required prolonged close contact, but there are increasingly indication that Hanta can be transmitted through the air. That is going to be ignored in favor of the official but possibly outdated mode of transmission, leading to wrong or insufficient response.

      Also I feel like people will be more hesitant than in 2020 to adopt behavior that avoids virus transmission.

      If mutated Hanta variants turn out to be very effective at transmission, and if we don't have the luck of a quick vaccin as we did with Covid, we're cooked.

      Hanta is a lot more deadly than Covid, and that can possibly be a good thing because that's the one thing that could lead to proper effective response. It has the potential to lead to rigorous measures to stop transmission instead of allowing it to spread to the whole population, leading to fewer cases and fewer deaths.

  • senectus1 an hour ago ago

    are all these cases on this site linked to patient 1?

  • baq 5 hours ago ago

    > Total Cases

    > 9+

    > As of May 8, 2026

    I'm as concerned about this outbreak as anyone, but this number is pure FUD and can go up on a tweet of somebody's grandma sneezing at an airport. Keep the lab confirmed one.

    • kitd 5 hours ago ago

      A radio report I heard said that hantavirus is nothing like coronavirus. It is not new, endemic, and there is plenty of immunity around to slow down local spread.

    • AntiUSAbah 4 hours ago ago

      I'm not concerned at all. Should I be concerned?

      • baq 4 hours ago ago

        Concerned? Yes. Should you panic, though? Absolutely not.

    • b112 5 hours ago ago

      Being a first mover in the panic-virus, I guess panic-anything is big bucks.

      Just think! If we all start dying, this guy'll be rich from targeted bunker ads and such.

  • LargoLasskhyfv 4 hours ago ago

    Hrrm. This is triggering my conspiracy theory affine mind hard.

    Wanna know why? Cruise ship. Should be full of the usual suspects putting their experiences on the net via FB/Insta/TikTok/whatever at every opportunity. They all have internet out there, meanwhile.

    You'll find almost nothing from them. I'd have expected much more. Why is that? Media blackout? Manufactured event to justify another round of shutdown of society?

    This is looking staged.