Health officials around the world are racing to calm public fears after a hantavirus outbreak aboard a luxury cruise ship in the Atlantic revived painful memories of the COVID-19 pandemic and unleashed a wave of anxiety, speculation and misinformation online.
The outbreak involving the Andes strain of hantavirus aboard the MV Hondius has left three people dead and several others infected, prompting quarantine measures and international monitoring efforts as passengers returned to nearly 20 countries.
Yet experts insist the virus poses a far lower public threat than COVID-19, even as uncertainty surrounding the rare disease complicates efforts to reassure the public.
For many, however, the images were difficult to separate from the trauma of early 2020: a cruise ship isolated at sea, masked officials, emergency briefings and fears of an unknown outbreak spreading across borders.
That emotional connection has become one of the biggest challenges facing health authorities.
