The Hantavirus Outbreak

What Happened:

The cruise ship MV Hondius has had an outbreak of hantavirus. Hantaviruses, as stated by the European Centre for Disease Control, “are a group of viruses that people usually catch through particles from infected rodents. It can cause serious illness, and the symptoms depend on the type of hantavirus involved.” Hantavirus is fairly rare, though most certainly not unheard of. What makes it in the headlines this time is that, most of the time, hantavirus goes from a rodent to a human, but it doesn’t spread farther than that human. This time it did, with multiple people becoming infected. Additionally, hantavirus has a high fatality rate, with 3 deceased on the ship and another 5 who have been reported to possess the infection. The last main piece of information on what makes this outbreak such a major incident is the international travel, meaning the virus could have spread when people got off at different stops around the world, and the recentness of COVID, meaning everyone is still on edge about new diseases. There are two pieces of good news. First, countries are taking this very seriously and there is an international effort going on to lower the risk to the general public. Second, many health initiatives have stated that this is a very low-risk scenario, and it will NOT become another COVID. As of now, passengers are beginning to disembark from the ship near the Canary Islands after their start from the point of South America. Those disembarking have not shown any symptoms and are being flown back to their home countries. 

My Take: 

My take on all of this is that people handled it pretty well. While I am not super comfortable with the ship disembarking without the leader of the Canary Island’s consent or approval, it is not really his decision as they are a territory of Spain. Additionally, the news is saying that those who don’t have any symptoms are just being taken back to their countries which makes me a little nervous because what if one just hadn’t developed symptoms. But, I’m not a doctor and have no idea how long it takes symptoms to appear after getting the infection. They are also being observed and health organisations are making sure they do not develop any of the symptoms.