What To Know About Hantavirus, The IIlness Linked To A Cruise Ship Outbreak 🛳

What to know about hantavirus, the illness linked to a cruise ship outbreak, AP News, May 7, 2026. Ed.

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.

“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.”

The virus usually spreads when people inhale contaminated residue of rodent droppings. 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.

- This outbreak may have come from Argentina
Detailed investigations of the cruise ship outbreak are ongoing, notably to determine its source. Investigators in Argentina suspect that the cases were initially contracted during a birdwatching trip in Ushuaia, at the country’s southern tip, two officials told AP.

Argentina has seen a surge of hantavirus cases that many local public health researchers attribute to climate change.

.. The virus is spread by rodents and, more rarely, people...

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