90-Second Read: Disease experts suggest cruise ship Hantavirus outbreak poses low risk

Since May 2nd, the CDC has been monitoring a deadly Hantavirus outbreak on a cruise ship in the Atlantic Ocean. Comparisons of the recent Hantavirus outbreak to SARS-CoV-2 are numerous, but inapt. Globally, the World Health Organization reported 11 cases linked to the cruise ship, including three deaths.

Hantaviruses, meanwhile, are a group of viruses that generally do not spread from person to person and can cause Hantavirus pulmonary syndrome. Also, there is already a Hantavirus of concern in the Western United States, the Sin Nombre virus. The Sin Nombre Virus, like most Hantaviruses, does not spread from person to person, though it is extremely serious and fatality rates range from 30 to 50 percent.

Test sequences reveal that it is a strain of Andes Hantavirus, native to South America. At the time of this recording, all of the 18 Americans aboard the MV Hondius cruise ship are being monitored in secure health facilities in the Eastern US and their identities have not been publicly revealed. Among those in quarantine are 3 Uthans, and though the risk to the exposed individuals is severe, the threat of a greater spread is low.