JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Hantavirus has been making headlines, and a Jacksonville emergency room doctor wants to put things in perspective.
Dr. Sonya Rashid, an ER physician in Jacksonville, told News4Jax that most emergency doctors will likely never encounter the disease.
“As an emergency medicine physician, I have never seen hantavirus,” Rashid said. “It’s not something that probably most emergency medicine physicians will encounter.”
How hantavirus spreads
Rashid said the virus is primarily transmitted through contact with rodent droppings, feces, or urine — not easily from person to person.
“Person-to-person transmission is relatively uncommon,” she said. “It is possible, but it is something that is not very prevalent or common.”
She added that the disease is harder to spread than COVID-19, which is airborne and more easily transmitted.
“I think this would be a little harder for it to become a pandemic just because it’s a zoonotic disease that is coming from rodent droppings,” Rashid said. “It can be spread potentially airborne person to person, but that’s not as likely.”
What the symptoms look like
Early symptoms of hantavirus resemble the flu or a common cold, Rashid said. Those include fevers, chills, body aches, and general illness.
The disease can progress to more serious complications.
“It can progress to oftentimes fluid in your lungs, kidney failure, a decrease in your blood pressure,” Rashid said.
No FDA-approved treatment
There are no FDA-approved treatments for hantavirus, Rashid said. Care is primarily supportive — meaning doctors work to help patients breathe, maintain blood pressure, and manage kidney function if failure occurs. She noted some experimental antivirals exist but are not standard protocol.
How to protect yourself
Rashid said the most important precaution is avoiding contact with rodent droppings.
“Don’t sweep up any rat droppings,” she said. “If you’re doing that, you want to make sure that you’re wearing a lot of protection so you don’t inhale any of those types of substances.”
Should Jacksonville residents be worried?
Rashid offered this guidance for those concerned about exposure: “If they were not in direct contact with someone that had hantavirus, I wouldn’t be as worried.” She said anyone who did have direct contact with an infected person should follow quarantine and testing protocols.
News4Jax reached out to several area hospitals. Baptist Health responded with a statement:
There are no cases of hantavirus at our health system.
As part of our standard infectious disease preparedness protocols, any patient with symptoms or risk factors that raise concern would be promptly evaluated and appropriate precautions would be implemented. Our infection prevention team would be engaged immediately and our teams would coordinate with the Florida Department of Health in accordance with established public health guidance.
Baptist Health
UF Health said it was not aware of any cases but would follow up. Ascension had not responded as of publication.