‘Nobody was suspecting a serious infectious disease’: UW director warns hantavirus shows world isn’t ready for next pandemic

Three people in King County were potentially exposed to hantavirus, but Dr. Peter Rabinowitz, co-director of the University of Washington (UW) Alliance for Pandemic Preparedness, said the local risk isn’t what worries him. His greater concern is that the world remains unprepared for the next pandemic.

Rabinowitz told “The Gee and Ursula Show” on KIRO Newsradio that the people in King County have shown no signs of infection, but the incident underscores how unprepared the country remains for the next major health crisis.

“I’m not that concerned about the people in King County. I think that we’re watching them closely, and there’s no sign of any infection at this point. So I think that’s all really good news,” he said. “I think there is some real cause for concern about this entire incident, largely because it shows us how we’re still not that well prepared for the next pandemic — which is going to happen at some point — and we really have to be prepared for it.”

Rabinowitz explained the Andes virus, the type of hantavirus people are being infected with, is found only in South America.

“This was a number of people getting sick after traveling in South America and then getting on a cruise ship. So very different situation from everyday operations in Washington,” he said.

‘We don’t know how many more cases’: Hantavirus incubation period could last up to 6 weeks

Rabinowitz said health officials are watching the people who were on the ship closely, but won’t know the full number of cases until the virus’s incubation period is over. He believes this hantavirus outbreak will fade away, but said the situation was poorly handled — someone died on the ship, and two weeks later, 30 passengers were allowed to disembark and travel around the world.

“The wife of the original patient got off the ship with the body two weeks after he had died, and then she got on a plane with about 80 other people, flew to South Africa, and then got really sick within about a day, and died in a hospital there,” Rabinowitz said. “So all that time, nobody was suspecting a serious infectious disease being transmitted, and there were really no precautions.”

He said it’s been only about two weeks since the death, and the virus’s incubation period can last four to six weeks.

“We absolutely don’t know how many more cases we’re going to see,” Rabinowitz said.

He worries there will be consequences from the U.S. government cutting funding for global health and global preparedness.

“You think we’d have increased it after COVID-19, but we’ve decreased it,” Rabinowitz said. “And you really saw the CDC not playing a very visible role at all, not taking a leadership role. The WHO has done some things. But remember, we got out of the WHO, we’re not really part of it. We’re not supporting it.”

Watch the full discussion in the video above.

Listen to Gee and Ursula on “The Gee and Ursula Show” weekday mornings from 9 am to 12 pm on KIRO Newsradio.