Cruise Ship Struck By Hantavirus Outbreak Is Expected To Sail To Canary Islands, WHO Says

The New York Times (5/5, Kim, Chutel, Moses) reports, “A cruise ship struck by a deadly outbreak of hantavirus is expected to sail to the Canary Islands, the World Health Organization said on Tuesday, though Spanish officials said disease experts would inspect the vessel before any decision on its destination was made.” The WHO “also said on Tuesday that some of those who had fallen ill may have been infected through human-to-human transmission, cautioning nonetheless that a full investigation was still needed and that human-to-human transmission remained rare.” Maria Van Kerkhove, the WHO’s head of epidemic and pandemic preparedness and prevention, said, “The risk to the general public is low.” NBC News (5/5, Smith, Burke) reports similarly that “the cruise ship carrying almost 150 passengers at the center of” the “hantavirus outbreak was marooned in the Atlantic ocean Tuesday waiting for two ill crew members to be evacuated for treatment.” So far, “at least three people have been killed, while there are now two laboratory-confirmed cases and five suspected cases of hantavirus, the WHO said.” According to NBC, “tests are ongoing in South Africa on the nature of the infection, but WHO experts suspect it is the Andes variant, which is transmissible from person to person.”