Cruise Ship Hantavirus Outbreak Triggers WHO Response

Hantavirus spreads when people breathe in small particles from infected rodents — like rats and mice — through their urine, saliva or droppings. The virus rarely spreads between people. Early symptoms — fever, muscle pain and dizziness — feel like the flu. But the illness can become very serious. Sometimes the lungs fill with water. The World Health Organization (WHO) says symptoms can take up to eight weeks to appear, so it is hard to know how this outbreak began.

Two of the people who died were a Dutch couple — a 70-year-old man and his 69-year-old wife. The husband died at sea on April 11. His wife died later at an airport in South Africa. Health workers are now trying to find others who may have been near the sick passengers. The WHO says the risk to the public is low. Travel restrictions are not needed.