What we know about hantavirus cases tied to deadly cruise ship outbreak

Health officials around the world are continuing to monitor a deadly hantavirus outbreak tied to a Dutch-flagged cruise ship currently headed toward Spain's Canary Islands. So far, eight cases have been confirmed or suspected, and three of those people have died. Hantaviruses are a family of rare viruses usually passed to humans through contact with contaminated rodent waste or saliva. They often present with symptoms of pulmonary and respiratory distress that can be severe, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The strain identified in the outbreak on the M/V Hondius cruise ship is called the Andes virus, which is the only known hantavirus strain to spread person to person. Transmission occurs through prolonged close contact, health officials say. Investigations, contact tracing efforts and isolation protocols were underway in a number of countries to which citizens returned after leaving the cruise on a stop at the end of April, as well as for people on a flight with one of the confirmed cases, the World Health Organization said. No one currently on the ship has symptoms of the virus, the ship operator Oceanwide Expeditions said Thursday. Maria Van Kerkhove, the agency's director of epidemic and pandemic preparedness and prevention, told reporters at a news conference Thursday that the ongoing nature of those public health measures — and the hantavirus' potentially lengthy incubation period — meant more cases could still emerge. …