An Illinois man is being monitored for a suspected hantavirus infection after health officials said he may have contracted the rodent-borne disease while cleaning a home contaminated with rat droppings.
The Illinois Department of Public Health said it is investigating the possible case in Winnebago County, while the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention conducts additional testing to confirm the diagnosis. Officials warned that final CDC test results could take up to 10 days.
Health officials said the man was not connected to the recent hantavirus outbreak aboard the MV Hondius cruise ship, where at least 11 people were infected, and three died after the virus spread during the Antarctic voyage.
Instead, investigators believe the Illinois man was exposed while cleaning an area containing rodent waste.
“Typically, we see it in cases like this one, where someone was cleaning an area where rats may have dwelled, and it may have aerosolized either the urine or the feces from the rat that contains the virus,” Saint Anthony Hospital Infectious Disease Specialist Dr. Alfredo Mena Lora told ABC7.
Officials said the man developed mild symptoms and did not require hospitalization. He is reportedly recovering as expected while remaining under observation.
The suspected infection is believed to involve a North African strain of hantavirus, which officials say is not spread person-to-person. That strain differs from the Andes strain linked to the deadly outbreak aboard the MV Hondius, which health experts say can spread between humans in rare cases.
Hantavirus infections remain relatively uncommon in the United States, though cases surface every year. The CDC has documented roughly 900 confirmed cases nationwide since tracking began in 1993.
The virus made headlines again last year following the deaths of legendary actor Gene Hackman and his wife, whose deaths were reportedly linked to hantavirus complications.
The latest concern comes as an American doctor who treated passengers during the MV Hondius outbreak revealed he has also tested positive for hantavirus.
Dr. Stephen Kornfeld, a retired oncologist from Bend, Oregon, stepped in to help care for sick passengers after the ship’s original doctor became ill during the voyage.
Kornfeld later told CNN that he tested positive for the virus and is currently isolated inside a biocontainment unit at the University of Nebraska Medical Center.
Despite testing positive, Kornfeld said he has not developed symptoms so far.
“It is still possible that the test represents an evolving disease, and I will get symptoms down the road. This is why I’m in the biocontainment unit,” he said.
Kornfeld joined the Antarctic cruise in Argentina last month and previously described the trip as a “trip of a lifetime” before the outbreak spiraled into an international health scare.
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