Residents of multiple countries, including the United States, are being monitored for hantavirus after traveling on the MV Hondius, an Oceanwide Expeditions cruise ship now tied to several cases of the virus.
As of May 7, five people had been confirmed to have hantavirus, and three others were suspected of contracting it, according to the World Health Organization.
Hantavirus is typically a rodent-borne virus, but officials have confirmed this particular strain to be the Andes virus, which can be transmitted human-to-human. Health authorities in five U.S. states have reported the return of locals who were aboard the ship, but no cases have been documented in America.
The WHO has repeatedly said the risk to the general public is currently considered low and is not calling the outbreak an epidemic. In the organization’s latest briefing, Dr. Maria Van Kerkhove explained hantavirus is dramatically different from coronavirus and said it does not spread the same way.
The WHO has repeatedly said the risk to the general public is currently considered low and is not calling the outbreak an epidemic. In the organization’s latest briefing, Dr. Maria Van Kerkhove explained hantavirus is dramatically different from coronavirus and said it does not spread the same way.
“I want to be unequivocal here: this is not SARS-CoV-2. This is not the start of a COVID pandemic,” she emphasized.
Officials believe the outbreak began when a married couple, Dutch nationals, were infected while they were off the cruise ship, engaging in wildlife expeditions.