Hantavirus may be rare in Canada, but one survivor says it can be devastating

The irruption of hantavirus alongside a sail ship in the atlantic sea Ocean has brought back painful memories for a British Columbia man who nearly died from the rare virus three years ago. 

"I was popping Advil like candy. The pain in my head was so bad," he said.

He went to his local clinic in Pemberton, B.C., but doctors couldn't figure out what was wrong with him. 

When his symptoms began rapidly worsening, Warburton said he believes he would have died in his own bed if he hadn't made it to the clinic in time. 

He was flown to Lions Gate Hospital in North Vancouver. 

"And from there, it turned out, I had sepsis, my kidneys were failing, my lungs were full of fluid," he said. 

He was eventually taken to Vancouver General Hospital, where he tested positive for hantavirus and was put on life support for several days. He was released after two weeks, but says it took nearly a year-and-a-half to fully recover. 

Warburton says he feels "very fortunate" to be alive.

"I don't take anything for granted."

Though rare, the rodent-born pathogen can cause serious, sometimes fatal diseases in humans. 

The one most often seen in North America is hantavirus pulmonary syndrome (HPS), a severe respiratory disease that usually begins with flu-like symptoms and has a fatality rate of up to 50 per cent, according to the World Health Organization. 

Between 1989 and 2020, a total of 143 cases of hantavirus pulmonary syndrome have been confirmed in Canada, according to a 2020 report led by the Public Health Agency of Canada's National Microbiology Laboratory in Winnipeg. 

On average, that works out to about four to five cases a year for the whole country, the report notes. 

Of those 143 cases, 34 were fatal. 

"Not impossible, but exceptionally rare." 

How common is hantavirus in Canada?

At a news conference Friday, officials provided more details about the 10 Canadians who may have been exposed to the virus as a result of the cruise ship outbreak, while trying to quell concerns that the disease could spread in Canada. 

Chief Public Health Officer Dr. Joss Reimer repeated multiple times that the risk to the general population in Canada is low and officials do not expect further spread in Canada. 

"It's not a virus that is transmitted the same way as COVID — it's much harder to transmit it from person to person," she said in French.

"It is not a virus that has potential to be a pandemic-causing virus."

Hantavirus spreading in Canada is unlikely: PHAC

Reimer also touched on how people can reduce their risk of contracting hantavirus.

She said the main thing people should do is stay away from rodents and safely disinfect areas contaminated by rodents. 

While he's not certain how he contracted the rare virus, Warburton suspects he got it from some rodents in his attic — a place he still avoids to this day. 

Senior writer

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