World Health Organization officials moved Thursday to tamp down fears that a hantavirus outbreak on a cruise ship could escalate into a pandemic, stressing the pathogen does not spread like the coronavirus that caused COVID-19.
Infectious disease epidemiologist Maria DeJoseph Van Kerkhove told reporters that the three confirmed deaths—a Dutch couple and a German citizen—and the evacuation of three suspected carriers do not warrant panic. “This is not COVID, this is not influenza,” she said. “It spreads very, very differently. So, there are different precautions that people are taking.”
Van Kerkhove directly addressed comparisons to the early days of COVID-19, when a handful of cases snowballed into a global crisis. She said hantaviruses are not novel; they have been known for decades. “But I want to be unequivocal here: this is not SARS-CoV-2, this is not the start of a COVID pandemic,” she added. She explained that most hantaviruses are transmitted from rodents or their droppings, not between people. The only exception is the Andes virus identified in this outbreak, which has shown rare human-to-human transmission.
Dr. Abdirahman Mahamud, director of WHO’s Alert and Response Coordination Department, pointed to a 2018 hantavirus outbreak in Argentina as a source of lessons that have guided the current response. “We believe this will be a limited outbreak if the public health measures are implemented and solidarity is shown across all countries,” he said.
The cruise ship, operated by Oceanwide Expeditions, departed Ushuaia, Argentina, on April 1 with fewer than 150 passengers and crew. It visited Antarctica and several South Atlantic islands before 30 people disembarked at St. Helena. The company confirmed Monday that 17 Americans were aboard.
CDC Acting Director Dr. Jay Bhattacharya said Wednesday the agency is monitoring the health of those individuals and preparing medical support. He downplayed the risk to the broader U.S. public: “Hantavirus is not spread by people without symptoms, transmission requires close contact, and the risk to the American public is very low.” He noted CDC experts are coordinating with state health offices and international authorities on response and repatriation.
According to CDC data through 2023, nearly 900 hantavirus cases have been confirmed in the United States, with about half reported in the Four Corners region and California. Ten states—including Alaska, Hawaii, and several in the South and Midwest—have not recorded a single case since 1993.
For more on the outbreak, see Hantavirus Outbreak on Cruise Ship Kills Three; WHO Says Risk Low and Four States Track Cruise Ship Passengers After Hantavirus Outbreak Kills Three.
