90-Second Read: Q&A: Epidemiologist from Brown University’s Pandemic Center on the Hantavirus outbreak

The outbreak has been confirmed as Hantavirus, a pathogen carried by some rodents that can infect humans in rare, but often deadly, instances. In this Q&A, Pandemic Center Director Jennifer Nuzzo, a professor of epidemiology whose work focuses on public health preparedness and response, explains what the public should know about the outbreak. The Andes virus [ANDV] strain is a species of Hantavirus that mostly circulates in Latin America, Argentina and Chile in particular.

The Dutch-flagged vessel MV Hondius departed Argentina on April 1 carrying nearly 150 passengers and crew from 23 countries, including 18 Americans. The Andes strain also tends to be a little more severe. We don't have great medical tools to treat people who are infected.

Those are the kinds of research projects that we should be doing to try to stay ahead of not just this virus, but other deadly viruses. It seems like the first case may have been someone who was traveling in Argentina before getting on the boat, and then a person they were traveling with subsequently became ill and died. The thinking is that the other infections on the boat happened person-to-person.