Scientists discover worrying link between hantavirus and sperm that can increase risk
Niamh Shackleton
Featured Image Credit: Vincenzo Izzo/LightRocket via Getty Images
It turns out that hantavirus can affect more than just your lungs; it can impact your sperm health as well.
Hantavirus has been making headlines of late after there was an outbreak of it on a Dutch cruise ship carrying around 150 people from all parts of the world.
Sadly three people have died from the disease while several others have been sickened by it.
But hantavirus dates back much further than the recent outbreak onboard the MV Hondius.
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The Andes strain of hantavirus, which naturally originates in wild rodents, is known to be transmitted from person-to-person.
It's rare that humans contract it, but certainly not unheard of. Gene Hackman's wife Betsy Arakawa, for example, died of the virus last year at the age of 65.
One man who developed hantavirus several years ago took part in a study that looked into how the virus impacts semen.
The 55-year-old study subject had contracted hantavirus in South America six years prior to the research being carried out.
The results, published in 2023, discovered that hantavirus was present in his semen all those years later.
There was no sign off the virus in man’s blood, urine and respiratory tract, however.
Because there were still traces of hantavirus in his semen six years later, scientists warned that the illness could be sexually transmitted.
The worrying discovery was made by Swiss scientists at the Spiez Laboratory.
It’s worth noting that sexual transmission of hantavirus through traces of the disease remaining in sperm has never been documented.
While there have been no reports of the Andes strain of hantavirus being sexually transmitted, it's possible that those who have recently tested positive for it will been advised to use protection during sex such as condoms to minimize the risk of the virus being transmitted via sperm.
The Andes strain of hantavirus is very rare. Microbiologist Dr Gustavo Palacios told CNN there have only ever been 3,000 known cases.
It is the only documented form of hantavirus with human-to-human transmission. One study showed that window for patients to be infectious was about a day, when they develop a fever. But they also found it was transmissible through only brief proximity to an infected person.
Andes virus (ANDV) is primarily found in South America and has a high fatality rate, between 20 and 40 percent. It can cause hantavirus pulmonary syndrome (HPS), which attacks the lungs. Symptoms start one to eight weeks after infection and the first signs can include:
Later symptoms include: