(Miami, FL) - A senior adviser to the World Health Organization says the hantavirus outbreak on a cruise ship in the Atlantic has never happened before.
Florida International University infectious diseases expert Dr. Aileen Marty says the deadly flu-like disease is linked to rat droppings. "There are no rats on the ship, the hantavirus originates in rats in Argentina." says Dr. Marty.
She says this infection likely began with a couple visiting Argentina who contracted the hantavirus and then boarded a cruise ship. And now contact tracing is underway for passengers who have already disembarked. She says 29 exposed passengers disembarked and may be spreading the virus in at least five countries including the U.S.
According to Dr. Marty, "the infection begins with flu-like symptoms and results in the lungs filling with fluid." She adds, "The hantavirus is not easily transmitted human-to-human but is difficult to control with victims usually drowning in their own lungs."
So far at least three people have died and three others are sick.
Dr. Marty is confident that this viral infection will not be as severe as the COVID-19 outbreak a few years ago. "It's a very different virus and it spreads differently."