Hantavirus – A Pandemic Treaty “Wake Up Call”?

The Hantavirus outbreak keeps on going. The case count is up to 11, with 9 *ahem* “confirmed” by PCR test.

The French government is isolating their five cruise ship passengers, and anybody those five people may have talked to, and they are worried the virus may have mutated.

A Dutch hospital is “racing” to “curb the spread” after a “protocol breach”.

The spectre of “asymptomatic cases” is suddenly looming, and some “experts” are warning it might be more contagious than previously thought.

The WHO Director General is warning we should prepare for more cases.

For reference sake, hantaviruses are endemic in much of the world, and – according to the most recent literature review on the subject – it is very unlikely it can spread person to person:

The balance of the evidence does not support the claim of human-to-human transmission of ANDV

(You might want to download a PDF copy of this paper, before it disappears from the internet.)

There was actually markedly bigger hantavirus outbreak a few years ago, involving over 30 cases and 11 deaths. You didn’t hear about it much.

So why all the panic now?

It is nonsense, with all the unmistakable hallmarks of nonsense.

Like the daring parachute drop from the British army to get vital supplies to a “suspected” case on the deserted island of Tristan de Cunha in the middle of the Atlantic ocean.

That’s a Covid-era story if ever there was one.

So, is this the oft-predicted “next pandemic”? Well, not yet.

The WHO says the risk to the public is still very low and there is “no sign of [a] larger outbreak”.

From the beginning they have been repeatedly saying “this is not another Covid”.

So, then…why is everyone talking about it?

Let’s go digging for clues.

Writing in the Guardian, Covid-cheerleader Devi Shridhar notes…

We’re also in a unique situation of relying on 23 different governments to successfully manage their nationals returning home […] To its credit, the WHO has taken the lead on the response, working with the staff on the ship and multiple governments to coordinate a coherent and integrated response. All of these different countries are welcoming their nationals back and should all be following a similar containment protocol.

Good old WHO, doing so well to work with all those different pesky governments and employ containment protocols.

You know what would have made that easier? Some kind of international treaty about pandemics and such.

A “Pandemic Treaty” if you will.

Unfortunately that much anticipated document is caught in “gridlock”, as France24 reported on May 1st:

Gridlock as pandemic treaty talks fail to finish – divided member states want up to a year of further negotiations on the missing piece of an international agreement on handling future pandemics.

The treaty was passed last summer, but can’t be ratified until the Pathogen Access and Benefit-Sharing (PABS) system is finally agreed upon.

When those negotiations stalled, WHO Chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told the press, “[We must] approach the outstanding issues with a sense of urgency, because the next pandemic is a matter of when, not if,”

…and now the hantavirus outbreak is here. It’s been a real wake up call, hasn’t it?

As the Washington Post says…

The hantavirus outbreak is a warning the world cannot ignore: The virus will not be another covid-19. But it does show how unprepared the world remains.

Health Policy Watch headlines, “Experts Call for Review of Global Outbreak Response as All Passengers Leave Hantavirus-hit Ship”, and highlights:

Despite negotiating a Pandemic Agreement since the end of the COVID-19 pandemic, WHO member states have been unable to agree on a Pathogen Access and Benefit Sharing (PABS) annex to set out how information about dangerous pathogens should be shared.

And, in an interview with the Houston Chronicle, Dr Peter Hoetz (another celebrity medic birthed by Covid) likewise warns of the lack of Pandemc Treaty, and calls this outbreak a “wake up call”:

It’s a good wake-up call — a reminder that we’re not ready at the national and international levels.

Can you see a pattern forming?

Maybe the WHO will sort it all out and get it in writing at the Annual World Health Assembly…next week.

A memo from Chatham House, published yesterday, claims that “Global health reform cannot wait for a new world order”, and calls for the Assembly to take “courageous steps”:

The World Health Assembly in Geneva presents a narrow window of opportunity for action to save multilateral cooperation on global health […] courageous steps must now be taken in other areas, such as negotiations on a pandemic agreement or possibly in relation to digital health.

Hmmm.

Let me put these events in a handy timeline for your convenience:

May 1st – Pandemic Treaty “Caught in Gridlock”.

May 11th – Hantavirus Outbreak “offers wake up call”. – (You are here)

May 18th – WHO World Health Assembly

…If you had to guess, what do you think is about to happen?

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