ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — An outbreak aboard a cruise ship of a rare rodent-borne illness called hantavirus has left three passengers dead and sickened others, but global health officials say the risk to the general public remains low because the germ does not easily spread between people.
Hantaviruses exist throughout the world and are spread mainly by contact with rodents. It’s rare and not easy for a hantavirus to spread between people. In severe cases, the virus can cause a deadly lung infection or kidney failure.
“This is not the next COVID, but it is a serious infectious disease,” said Maria Van Kerkhove, director of epidemic and pandemic preparedness at the World Health Organization. “Most people will never be exposed to this.”Hantaviruses have been around for centuries and are thought to exist around the world. The disease gained renewed attention last year after the late actor Gene Hackman ’s wife, Betsy Arakawa, died from a hantavirus infection in New Mexico.
AP AUDIO: What to know about hantavirus, the illness suspected in a cruise ship outbreak
In an AP interview, Paul Hunter, a professor of medicine at the University of East Anglia and an expert on the epidemiology of infectious disease, says hantavirus can be spread from contaminated aerosol vapor.
