{"id":7298,"date":"2026-06-06T19:46:16","date_gmt":"2026-06-07T01:46:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/allphasepharma.com\/dir\/?p=7298"},"modified":"2026-06-07T11:07:59","modified_gmt":"2026-06-07T17:07:59","slug":"hanta-whats-next","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/allphasepharma.com\/dir\/2026\/06\/06\/7298\/hanta-whats-next\/","title":{"rendered":"HANTA & WHAT\u2019S NEXT"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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By now, we\u2019ve had a chance to brush up on the Hanta virus, esp. the Andes variety which caused a mini-epidemic on the arctic cruise ship MV Hondius.  Named after Hantaan, the river in South Korea where the disease first emerged, we give credit to Dr. Ho Wang Lee, the researcher who worked on the virus in the 1980s and single-handedly developed a vaccine called Hantavax. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We recognize the different disease presentations of this agent, as HFRS in SEA and Europe and as HPS in the Americas.  Most importantly, we learned that the Andes virus is capable of person-to-person spread, a finding of concern as the disease has a high mortality rate (approx. 35%).i<\/sup> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

CDC and various expert groups assure us that Hanta\/Andes is not a repeat of Covid-19 which \u2013 at least in its early days \u2013 presented similarly with high mortality and spread on cruise ships.  This advice is certainly right for today.  How about for tomorrow?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is good to see that Hanta-related funding and research have picked up considerably in the past years with a boost since the Hondius miniepidemic. 
Prevention in the form of vaccines and treatment options are being evaluated.  Several excellent articles and online publications provide a status update on vaccine research. [i]<\/a>,[ii]<\/a>,[iii]<\/a><\/sup>
There is also a comprehensive review of therapies that are currently under consideration.[iv]<\/sup><\/a><\/p><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

This is a virus that cannot be tackled by industry.  Hanta research belongs in BSL-4 facilities which have the capability to do this kind of dangerous research.  There are very few facilities like the one at Fort Detrick, USA located in other countries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A central problem remains: How is one to conduct efficacy trials for a disease as rare as HPS?  Studies following the standard staged development paradigm are just not feasible.  For anthrax, we can fall back on animal models, but not for Hanta.  This will presumably change over time, but for now, this is a major issue. There is a Syrian hamster model, but it remains to be seen if it is predictive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hanta is just one of many potentially lethal pathogens that demand attention. We are somewhat familiar with Ebola and Mpox but less so with Hendra, Nipah, Sabia, Marburg and the myriad of viruses that we may have to confront at some point in the future.  In the ever expanding Hanta family tree alone there are more species names that none of us have ever heard of (see Table 1 below).  We should recognize our deficits in knowledge; there remains a lot work to be done and learned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This creates a dilemma for which we have no easy solution:  Even in endemic areas like Chile and Argentina, symptomatic cases are fairly rare and outbreaks remain small sporadic events. Traditional efficacy trials require large patient numbers and are bound to miss enrollment targets.  For example, the aborted trial by Merz et al shows the difficulties; it is still remarkable in several ways:<\/p>\n\n\n\n