Any Foodborne Transmission Among Hantavirus, Swine Flu or WNV?
Not a lot, but some
BY DAN FLYNN | SEP 04, 2012
Mangoes are likely responsible for the Salmonella Braenderup outbreak and Cantaloupes are almost certainly the source of the Salmonella Typhimurium infections, but what role does food and water play in spreading Hantavirus, swine flu and West Nile Virus?
None of the three are typically thought of as food borne diseases, but that does not tell the
whole story.
Hantavirus
For example, the federal Centers For Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta reports that people can become infected of Hantavirus Pulmonary Syndrome if they eat food contaminated by urine, droppings or saliva from an infected rodent.
That might not happen at your house, Hantavirus infections typically occur in people who are camping, hunting or doing other outdoor activities. This year 10,000 people who visited Yosemite National Park have been warned about Hantavirus because they may have stayed in the park’s Curry Village which has tent-like structures.
Three confirmed and one possible case of Hantavirus have been linked to that location.
CDC says many Hantavirus victims probably touch something contaminated with rodent urine, droppings, or saliva and then touch their own nose or mouth. Rodent bites would also do, but those are rare.
Airborne transmission is also likely from tiny droplets of urine, rodent droppings, and nestling material get into the air.
Any number of rodents, from deer mice to cotton rats–can spread the virus. CDC has tracked Hantavirus in the U.S. since 1993, the year when attention was first focused on the virus after unexplained deaths began occurring in the Four Corners area of the American Southwest.
Yosemite’s many park visitors being exposed to Hantavirus this year does not mean anything extraordinary is going on. Through early July, only 15 news confirmed cases had been recorded since last year when the total count since 1993 stood at 587.
The mean age for a Hantavrirus victim from 1993 to 2011 was 37 with two out of three being men with the Four Corners states of Utah, Arizona, Colorado and New Mexico plus California and Texas having the most cases.
Swine Flu
More than 300 variant influenza viruses have now been recorded in the U.S. Most of these “swine flu” viruses have been found in Indiana and Ohio, which recently experienced the first deaths. The “term Variant” means they are similar to viruses circulating in swine.
The current U.S. outbreak of swine flu involves the H3N2 Influenza A Variant Virus. In addition to the one death, 15 of the 288 people infected required hospitalization.
CDC reports that swine flu has not been shown to be transmissible to people through eating properly handled and prepared pork (pig meat) or other products derived from pork. Key to proper preparation is cooking pork to 145 °F throughout.
West Nile Virus (WNV)
About 30,000 Americans have suffered from West Nile Virus since 1999. Unless you count one case where a nursing mother with West Nile Virus gave it to her baby, WNV is not much of a food borne disease.
But standing water is another story. Mosquito do their breeding in standing water, bird baths or pet’s water bowl are enough. Breeding areas mean more mosquitos and more WNV-carrying mosquito bites.
Dr. Lyle Petersen, CDC’s director of the division of vector-borne infectious diseases, says cases of West Nile Virus are now on the rise.
“As of August 28th, 2012, a total of 48 states have reported West Nile virus infections in people, birds or mosquitoes. Only Alaska and Hawaii have reported no West Nile virus activity. Forty-three states have reported at least one human case of West Nile virus disease. CDC received reports of 1,590 cases of West Nile virus disease in people, including 66 deaths, Petersen told an Aug. 29 press briefing.
“Of these, 889 (56 percent) were classified as neuroinvasive disease, such as meningitis or encephalitis; and 701 (or 44 percent) were classified as non-neuroinvasive disease. These numbers represent a 40 percent increase over last week’s report of 1,118 total cases, 629 neuroinvasive disease cases, and 41 deaths.
“The 1,590 cases reported thus far in 2012, is the highest number of West Nile virus disease cases reported to the CDC through the last week in August since West Nile virus was first detected in the United States in 1999. More than 70 percent of the cases have been reported from 6 states, which in descending order are Texas, South Dakota, Mississippi, Oklahoma, Louisiana, and Michigan. Nearly half of the cases are from Texas.”
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