ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The Kurdistan Region’s agriculture ministry on Wednesday announced precautionary measures to prevent any potential spread of the Hantavirus, including the launch of a large-scale rodent control campaign, a senior ministry official told Rudaw.
“The virus spread globally between 1950 and 1953 and was identified in South Korea in 1978, but there is still no vaccine for it,” said Rabir Mohammed, Director General of Livestock and Veterinary Affairs at the agriculture ministry, adding that Hantavirus is transmitted through rodents such as rats and mice.
Accordingly, the Kurdistan Region’s agriculture ministry has decided to launch a campaign to eliminate rats and mice in all government and non-government institutions, as well as in areas where rodents are widely present.
The ministry also mandated the use of rodenticides in animal feed factories, livestock projects, slaughterhouses, dairy plants, meat-processing facilities, and butcher shops.
Moreover, Kurdish authorities have decided to ban the entry of pet hamsters through border crossings and urged owners of dog and cat food warehouses to take the necessary measures to eliminate rats and mice from their storage facilities as well.
Earlier this month, Salah Tawfiq Balaki, a professor and medical microbiology specialist at Hawler Medical University, told Rudaw that chances of human-to-human transmission of the Hantavirus are “very weak,” noting that the likelihood of the virus developing into a widespread pandemic similar to coronavirus are also “very low.”
The main symptoms of the virus include fever, severe fatigue, headaches, muscle and abdominal pain, diarrhea, coughing, and shortness of breath in severe cases.
International health organizations in early May began monitoring a serious outbreak of Hantavirus Pulmonary Syndrome (HPS) linked to the Dutch cruise ship MV Hondius, which departed Argentina on April 1 and has since drawn global attention after several passengers developed severe respiratory symptoms during a voyage through the South Atlantic.
The vessel later arrived in Tenerife in Spain’s Canary Islands, where all passengers were disembarked and repatriated under strict quarantine measures to countries including the Netherlands, France, and Switzerland.
Health authorities have expressed particular concern over the detection of the Andes virus (ANDV), a rare hantavirus strain.
While most hantaviruses are typically transmitted from rodents to humans through inhalation of contaminated particles such as dust containing urine or droppings, the Andes virus is notable as the only known strain capable of human-to-human transmission, heightening concerns about potential spread among close contacts.
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