LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) — A Louisville infectious disease specialist said the public risk from hantavirus cases linked to a South American cruise ship remains extremely low.
Dr. Daniel Blatt, an infectious disease specialist at Norton Children's, said Monday he does not believe there is a pandemic risk associated with the hantavirus, a rare rodent-borne illness that killed three people and infected others after it spread on a cruise ship. However, he still believes the public should take it seriously.
"I don't want people to think this is COVID-19, that this is going to turn into a new pandemic," Blatt said. "It’s concerning because it’s a public health risk, and that’s why we need to monitor people who do have this infection."
The strain of hantavirus that spread on the MV Hondius cruise ship is called the Andes strain. Blatt explained that although it is the only strain of the virus that can be transmitted human-to-human, it is not "extremely easy" to be exposed that way.
"You need a lot of very close contact between humans to transmit," Blatt said.
He said that the most common form of transmission, like the other strains of hantavirus, is through close contact with rodent droppings.
Blatt also noted that hantavirus is not a new virus and has been studied by health officials for decades, making it very different than COVID-19, a highly transmissible, unknown virus.
"This is known illness, and we're tracking it like any other known illness," Blatt said.
He reiterated that the likelihood of someone who was not on the cruise ship or was not in close contact with someone on the cruise ship is "extremely low." However, he encouraged the general public to stay aware as the situation develops.
"Like any other public health outbreak, the data changes," Blatt said. "And as the data changes, we'll have changing answers to what we think is going on. "
Latest updates on the hantavirus outbreak
Three cruise ship passengers have died, and six people with confirmed or suspected cases of hantavirus are being quarantined, according to the WHO. The last remaining passengers aboard the ship disembarked in the Canary Islands and boarded flights to more than 20 countries to enter quarantine.
Health officials confirmed one of 18 evacuated passengers flown to the U.S. tested positive for hantavirus but is not showing symptoms, while another had mild symptoms. Most of the passengers were taken to the University of Nebraska Medical Center for monitoring, while two others arrived at Emory University Hospital in Atlanta.Â
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