Hantavirus Concerns Addressed

Added: 2026-05-12

[00:00:00]Well, in other news this evening, the rare ha virus generating concerns worldwide. Tonight, international reports confirm that the deadly disease is present in five countries with three persons already dead. Farses of a global outbreak continue to mount as passengers on the MV Honduras, the nucleus of the hunter virus cases are scheduled to arrive in Spain's Canary Islands sometime this week. Alderis Munnings has more on the local response. Ministry of Health and Department of Public Health is watching this very closely with our surveillance unit.

[00:00:34]>> A bit of good news there for Bahamians watching international reports on the ortho handto virus's impact. Global attention zeros in on the MV Hondas after three passengers, a Dutch couple and a German national reportedly died from the handus since the vessel departed Argentina last month. This has prompted even more closer monitoring for health and wellness minister the honorable Dr. Michael Darville and his team. Considering the Bahamas is a top tier cruise ship registry, >> I want to make it very clear that there was no Bahamians on board that ship and so it doesn't affect the Commonwealth of the Bahamas. But the alert is a part of the network from KA as well as the Caribbean Agency and the Bahamas. We know what's going on because we have one of the most robust uh cruise ship uh industry uh in the region. Uh we service over 12 million uh tourists and we have an excellent surveillance program and early warning systems where we can identify waterbornne, airborne and even viruses brought on by vectors.

[00:01:38]>> According to the US-based Centers for Disease Control, infections happen upon contact with rodents like rats and mice, especially when exposed to their urine, droppings, and saliva. Health Ministry officials reassure that established protocols have been implemented to reduce the chance of importing illnesses that could affect public health or strain the health care system.

[00:02:01]>> The Department of Public Health and uh the Ministry of Environment uh is working diligently to reduce the rodent population in the Commonwealth of the Bahamas. And very soon you'll hear about some new techniques that we're putting in place to actually take charge and reduce the rodent population throughout the country. We have one of the most sophisticated surveillance as well as analysis HIV all forms of upper respiratory viruses and all kinds of different infectious diseases from our reference lab. and that is a state-of-the-art facility and we have the ability to do gene sequencing and we're proud of that. Uh over the last 4 and 1/2 years we made sure that we never want to find ourselves in the position god forbid that we have another pandemic and we're not prepared.

[00:02:51]>> The World Health Organization reports that while it expects more havirus cases to emerge, it doesn't anticipate a large epidemic anywhere similar to CO 19. For the Bahamas tonight, I'm Altav Mings.