WHO: Hantavirus Outbreak on Cruise Ship Serious but Not a Pandemic Threat

Health officials from the World Health Organization (WHO) have addressed an outbreak of Andes virus, a rare type of hantavirus, aboard the Dutch cruise ship MV Hondius. The incident has sickened eight people and resulted in three deaths, sparking public concern and comparisons to the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, WHO Director-General Tedros Ghebreyesus and other experts emphasize that this is not SARS-CoV-2 and does not pose a pandemic risk. Unlike most hantaviruses transmitted via rodents, Andes virus can spread between humans through close, prolonged contact, similar to a 2018 outbreak in Argentina. The initial cases were linked to travel in South America, specifically Argentina, Chile, and Uruguay. Currently, the ship is en route to the Canary Islands for disembarkation, with no new symptomatic cases reported on board. Passengers remain in sanitized cabins as a precaution. While the fatality rate for hantavirus can be high, the WHO assesses the current public health risk as low, noting that transmission requires intimate contact and is not airborne like influenza or COVID-19. Authorities expect potential new cases due to the virus's six-week incubation period but anticipate contained transmission chains.