- A rare hantavirus outbreak has affected a cruise ship carrying nearly 150 people who were travelling from Argentina on a long-haul Atlantic journey.
- With a few confirmed deaths so far, several countries have ordered tracking and self-isolation for people at risk of suspected infection.
- However, the WHO currently maintains that the risk of human-to-human transmission and global spread is ‘low’ and the outbreak is under monitoring.
- Medical News Today spoke to three experts to find out what symptoms to watch out for, when to seek care, and what to do if they suspect contact with the hantavirus.
With international contact tracing efforts underway to track the passengers who disembarked the Dutch-flagged cruise ship MV Hondius early, concerns among the public about a larger outbreak of hantavirus have been growing.
What began with the confirmed
The ship, operated by Oceanwide Expeditions, was initially held off the coast of Cape Verde, and later authorized to sail toward the Canary Islands in Spain for further investigation.
Medical News Today spoke to three medical experts to learn more about how this virus spreads, what people can do to protect themselves, and whether this outbreak has the potential to turn into a bigger epidemic, similar to SARS-CoV-2:
- William Schaffner, MD, professor of preventive medicine in the Department of Health Policy, and professor of medicine in the Division of Infectious Diseases at Vanderbilt University Medical Center
- Justin Chan, MD, infectious diseases specialist at NYU Langone Health and Director of Infection Prevention and Control at Bellevue Hospital Center
- and Monica Gandhi, MD, MPH, an infectious diseases specialist with the University of California, San Francisco.
Team Health Accessible
Health & Wellness Editorial Team
HealthAccessible editorial team delivers trusted, accessible, and evidence-based health information for everyone.
