In grey bruce county, Dr. Bryce Warner said a Saskatoon infectious disease lab is studying why human and deer mouse immune responses differ in hantavirus infection. The work at the Vaccine and Infectious Disease Organization at the University of Saskatchewan is in the very early stages and is aimed at identifying biomarkers that could be targeted with a treatment or therapy.
Warner said deer mice are the primary carrier of hantavirus and that they do not get sick when infected. He said the lab is trying to understand that difference because there are no approved vaccines for hantavirus in Canada or across the Americas.
VIDO and the University of Saskatchewan
The project is being carried out at VIDO, which is based at the University of Saskatchewan. Warner said the lab is working on one or two approaches in early clinical trials or pre-clinical studies and hopes one of them can lead to something. He also said, “We’re in the very early stages of that project right now,” referring to the effort to identify targets for treatment.
He said deer mice infected with the virus “don’t show any clinical signs of illness” and “carry it for life,” which leaves humans as the species that develops severe disease. Warner said the risk of contracting hantavirus is low, but without treatment it is often fatal.
Canadian hantavirus cases
Health Canada said approximately 40 per cent of Canadian hantavirus cases end in death. In Canada, about five to 10 human cases are reported each year, with most of them in Saskatchewan and Alberta. Warner said there are vaccines in use in China and South Korea, but they target different strains of the virus that are not present in the Americas.
The virus sheds periodically in rodent urine, feces and saliva, and Warner said it can become airborne and be breathed in when cleaning an area where rodents have been living. He told people, “Really, the risk prevention there is to be aware of it and air out those spaces and use a disinfectant, wear a mask, wear gloves when you’re cleaning those spac”.
April 11 cruise ship exposure
The research lands as the World Health Organization tracks exposure among passengers who boarded a ship in Argentina on April 11, where three people have died as a result of the outbreak. Symptoms of hantavirus include tiredness, dizziness, fever, chills, muscle aches, nausea, vomiting, stomach pain and coughing, and as the illness progresses it can cause shortness of breath and difficulty breathing.
For people in Saskatchewan and Alberta, the practical step is simple: treat rodent-infested areas as a cleanup job that needs protection, not a quick sweep. Warner’s advice centers on airing out the space, using disinfectant, and wearing a mask and gloves before cleaning where rodents have been living.
