The Andes strain, which can be transmitted between humans via droplets of saliva, was identified on Wednesday through sequencing in three patients who had traveled aboard the MV Hondius, a cruise ship that was due to dock in the Canary Islands in the coming days. Here is an overview of the main questions raised by this outbreak.

While three people have died of the disease on a cruise ship in the southern Atlantic, hantavirus presents a low risk to the public, the head of the World Health Organization…

The World Health Organization said the risk to the wider public was low but added that limited human-to-human transmission had been reported in some strains of the virus.