As health officials continue responding to the hantavirus outbreak linked to a cruise ship in the Atlantic, where 18 exposed U.S. passengers were flown to medical facilities in Nebraska and Atlanta on Monday and are now being monitored for up to 42 days, researchers are revisiting a study that found genetic material from the Andes virus lingering in a patient’s semen for nearly six years after infection.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Andes virus is a type of hantavirus and the only known strain capable of spreading from person to person.
In the 2023 study, published in the journal Viruses, researchers followed a 55-year-old Swiss man who contracted the Andes virus while traveling in South America. Years later, the team continued detecting viral RNA in semen samples even after it had disappeared from his blood.
“We demonstrate that the ANDV genome persists within the reproductive tract for at least 71 months,” the researchers wrote in their study.
Researchers Found Andes Virus RNA in Semen Nearly 6 Years Later
The researchers monitored the patient for more than six years after infection, repeatedly testing his blood and semen for traces of the virus.
While viral RNA disappeared from blood samples within months, semen samples continued testing positive throughout the study period. Researchers detected viral RNA as late as 2,188 days after infection.
Most of the viral material also appeared to be hiding inside cells found in semen rather than floating freely in the fluid itself.
The virus also changed surprisingly little over time. When researchers compared early and later samples, they found only a few small genetic differences, pointing to the virus remaining relatively inactive inside the body for years.
Read More: A Hantavirus Outbreak on a Cruise Ship Leaves 3 Dead — Why Viral Outbreaks Are So Common at Sea
Scientists Still Don’t Know if the Virus Remains Infectious
The researchers note that finding viral genetic material does not necessarily mean a live infectious virus was still present the entire time.
Attempts to isolate live virus from the semen samples were unsuccessful. However, the study notes that hantaviruses are notoriously difficult to isolate in laboratory settings, meaning the failed isolation attempts do not prove that infectious particles were absent.
The paper also compared Andes virus persistence to viruses such as Ebola and Zika, which are known to linger in semen long after infection.
Researchers ultimately concluded that the findings support the possibility of sexual transmission, although more research is still needed to understand how long the infectious virus may persist inside the body.
New Questions About Sexual Transmission
The findings have also sparked discussion about whether some Andes virus survivors may eventually require longer-term sexual health precautions.
According to The Telegraph, health analytics company Airfinity suggested existing 42-day monitoring periods may not fully address the possibility of long-term viral persistence identified in the study.
The company reportedly pointed to World Health Organization guidance created for Ebola survivors as a possible model. Those recommendations include regular semen testing and precautions aimed at reducing the risk of sexual transmission until patients repeatedly test negative.
The CDC says the overall public risk linked to the current outbreak remains extremely low.
This article is not offering medical advice and should be used for informational purposes only.
Read More: Most Pandemic Viruses Show No Signs of Lab Adaptation — Except This One Historical Outbreak
Article Sources
Our writers at Discovermagazine.com use peer-reviewed studies and high-quality sources for our articles, and our editors review for scientific accuracy and editorial standards. Review the sources used below for this article:
- This article includes information from a study published in Viruses: Presence and Persistence of Andes Virus RNA in Human Semen
- This article references information from the CDC: Hantavirus: Current Situation
- This article references information from the CDC: About Andes Virus
- This article references information from the Telegraph: Hantavirus may survive in human sperm for up to six years and cause a transmission risk
