B.C. man feels ‘very fortunate’ to be alive after nearly dying from hantavirus 3 years ago

The outbreak of hantavirus aboard a cruise ship in the Atlantic Ocean has brought back painful memories for a British Columbia man who nearly died from the rare virus three years ago. 

It started out with a horrible headache and chills that “came out of nowhere,” Lorne Warburton said in an interview with CBC’s The Current this week. 

“I was popping Advil like candy. The pain in my head was so bad,” he said.

He went to his local clinic in Pemberton, B.C., but doctors couldn’t figure out what was wrong with him. 

When his symptoms began rapidly worsening, Warburton said he believes he would have died in his own bed if he hadn’t made it to the clinic in time. 

He was flown to Lions Gate Hospital in North Vancouver. 

“And from there, it turned out, I had sepsis, my kidneys were failing, my lungs were full of fluid,” he said. 

He was eventually taken to Vancouver General Hospital, where he tested positive for hantavirus and was put on life support for several days. He was released after two weeks, but says it took nearly a year-and-a-half to fully recover. 

Warburton says he feels “very fortunate” to be alive.

“I don’t take anything for granted.”

Cases rare in Canada 

Though rare, the rodent-born pathogen can cause serious, sometimes fatal diseases in humans. 

The one most often seen in North America is hantavirus pulmonary syndrome (HPS), a severe respiratory disease that usually begins with flu-like symptoms and has a fatality rate of up to 50 per cent, according to the World Health Organization. 

Between 1989 and 2020, a total of 143 cases of hantavirus pulmonary syndrome have been confirmed in Canada, according to a 2020 report led by the Public Health Agency of Canada’s National Microbiology Laboratory in Winnipeg. 

On average, that works out to about four to five cases a year for the whole country, the report notes. 

Of those 143 cases, 34 were fatal. 

Given those numbers, it is considered “exceptionally rare” to acquire the disease in Canada, said Dr. Zain Chagla, an infectious disease specialist, in an interview with CBC News. 

“Not impossible, but exceptionally rare.” 

WATCH | Expert on rarity of cases in Canada:

How common is hantavirus in Canada?

Infectious disease specialist Dr. Zain Chagla spoke with CBC Radio’s The Dose about the risk of hantavirus in Canada, and the difference between the two syndromes it can cause. Health authorities said Wednesday that the Andes strain of hantavirus has been identified on a cruise ship at the centre of a deadly outbreak.

Health officials don’t believe virus will spread 

At a news conference Friday, officials provided more details about the 10 Canadians who may have been exposed to the virus as a result of the cruise ship outbreak, while trying to quell concerns that the disease could spread in Canada. 

Chief Public Health Officer Dr. Joss Reimer repeated multiple times that the risk to the general population in Canada is low and officials do not expect further spread in Canada. 

“It’s not a virus that is transmitted the same way as COVID — it’s much harder to transmit it from person to person,” she said in French.

“It is not a virus that has potential to be a pandemic-causing virus.”

WATCH | Health officials don’t expect virus to spread:

Hantavirus spreading in Canada is unlikely: PHAC

Canada’s chief public health officer Dr. Joss Reimer said she recognizes Canadians might find news of the outbreak ‘upsetting’ in the aftermath of the COVID-19 virus, but said the overall risk to the public is ‘low.’ Reimer said six individuals in Canada are isolating after possibly coming in contact with the virus. Four Canadians remain in isolation on the cruise ship that will soon reach Spain’s Canary Islands.

Reimer also touched on how people can reduce their risk of contracting hantavirus.

She said the main thing people should do is stay away from rodents and safely disinfect areas contaminated by rodents. 

While he’s not certain how he contracted the rare virus, Warburton suspects he got it from some rodents in his attic — a place he still avoids to this day.