science
Hantavirus Cases Linked to Cruise Ship Prompt Monitoring in Five US States
An outbreak of hantavirus on the MV Hondius cruise ship has resulted in three deaths and at least eight cases. Five US states are monitoring returning passengers. An infectious disease expert said the outbreak will likely subside within weeks because the virus transmits less efficiently than respiratory illnesses such as COVID.
mg.co.zaAudio version
Tap play to generate a narrated version.
An infectious disease expert said the hantavirus outbreak linked to an expedition cruise ship will likely fade within weeks because human-to-human transmission of the virus is far less efficient than that of COVID. Investigations continue into the outbreak that originated on the MV Hondius, which was traveling from Argentina across the Atlantic.
There have been three deaths and at least eight reported cases among passengers, several of them laboratory-confirmed, according to the World Health Organization and subsequent health reports. At least five states are now monitoring residents who returned from the vessel.
Those states are Texas, Virginia, Georgia, Arizona and California.
In the United States, there have historically been around 800 to 900 cases of hantavirus. CDC data shows that 890 cases of hantavirus disease were reported from 1993 through the end of 2023. "Most of these cases have been west of the Mississippi River, and classically the risk factors are being in contact with feces and urine from rodents," Luis Marcos, MD, professor of medicine and director of the Infectious Diseases Fellowship Program at Stony Brook Medicine in New York, told Fox News Digital.
The most common strain in the US is called Sin Nombre, which is not transmitted from human to human, Marcos said. Most strains spread through inhaling contaminated particles from rodent urine, droppings or saliva, or less commonly by touching contaminated surfaces and then touching the mouth, nose or eyes.
The only proven human-to-human transmission has been with the Andean virus from South America, and that is what is occurring in the current outbreak, Marcos told Fox News Digital. The cruise ship outbreak reportedly originated with a couple who contracted the virus while traveling in Argentina.
"They were not symptomatic at all – the incubation period can be one, two, three or four weeks," Marcos said. Symptoms are similar to flu and COVID, including fever and muscle pain. Some people may experience mild disease. In rare cases, hantavirus can lead to hantavirus pulmonary syndrome, which causes the lungs to fill with fluid and can be fatal.
