A woman who almost died after contracting hantavirus, which is usually transmitted through exposure to rodent droppings, has described how the infection nearly killed her
Shaina Monteil was a happy, healthy child until one summer evening changed the trajectory of her life.
Now a 38-year-old teacher, she is speaking out as three people are confirmed dead following a hantavirus outbreak aboard the MV Hondius cruise ship near Cape Verde. While playing outside with her siblings, aged 5, Shaina unknowingly inhaled dust contaminated by rodent waste. What her mother initially dismissed as a common flu quickly spiralled into a medical emergency.
“My mum took me to the doctors and was given antibiotics but I just got worse. I was throwing up a lot and it progressed to the point where I was so weak and unable to go to school. “I remember having really bad headaches, my stomach was hurting a lot and I had a bad rash all over my body.” The situation turned dire when she began haemorrhaging and she was rushed to the hospital.
READ MORE: Hantavirus live as Canary Islands rejects cruise ship amid deadly outbreak
At the hospital, doctors were baffled by the tiny blood spots (petechiae) under her skin and she was initially misdiagnosed with meningitis and then leukaemia.
“I was put on a floor with children who weren’t going to live. There were kids all around me who couldn’t move,” Shaina, from California, told the Daily Mirror. “They thought I wasn’t going to make it either. So many doctors were coming in and taking photos of me and collecting data, but no one knew what it was.”
Shaina’s life was saved by a chance encounter with a young doctor who had recently attended a medical conference. Recognising the specific cluster of symptoms, he connected the dots and realised she was suffering from hantavirus. “It was like a miracle,” she said. “They managed to treat me, it was so painful and my body was swollen” and sore to touch – but it managed to work.
“Doctors were crying as I recovered. Everyone was in shock and telling my mum they didn’t know how I was still alive. My parents also became very overprotective, my mum was constantly checking me.”
Though the physical infection is long gone, the memories haven’t faded. Shauna lives with a profound fear of vomiting, and a constant fear of illness. “Even after I got better I was always afraid of catching it again and developed a fear of dying. I was so scared I wasn’t going to make it to turning 10.
She added: “If I get a rash or just something weird on my skin I freak out because I think it just takes me back. Whenever someone around me is sick, I get nervous. In my brain I think they are going to die because I almost died. I just always think the worst now.”
The recent deaths aboard MV Hondius have brought these memories flooding back. While hantavirus is typically spread from rodent-to-human, the World Health Organisation (WHO) say it may have spread though “really close contact” between passengers.
Shaina’s advice to those concerned, is to stay vigilant. She said: “If you are in an area where there are rat droppings just be careful, wear a mask, wear gloves, because the dust is around. I was never trying to touch the rat droppings, but who knows what it was I inhaled. You just have to be so wary as you never know.”
The deadly disease could easily be confused with simple flu. Hantaviruses are viruses carried by rodents that can trigger varying degrees of illness in humans. Each hantavirus is linked to a different rodent host. People contract the virus by inhaling infected rodent urine, droppings or saliva.
It can be contracted by inhaling, consuming, or coming into contact with rat and mouse faeces, urine or saliva. This could occur through handling the animal directly, or by touching something contaminated with its bodily fluids. The incubation period typically lasts two to four days, but can range from two days to eight weeks.
The initial symptoms can easily be confused with influenza, including a fever exceeding 101F, chills, muscle aches, severe headaches, nausea, stomach complaints, and a notably dry cough. Without warning, however, breathing difficulties can rapidly develop.
