New Jersey Alerts Doctors About Cruise‑Ship Rat Virus

The state of New Jersey joined six other regions on Friday to warn health professionals that people returning from the MV Hondius cruise may carry a rat‑borne virus called hantavirus. Eight passengers on the ship tested positive, and three died. Seven Americans left the vessel last month; another 17 will leave in the Canary Islands before heading back home. Health officials say that anyone who got off earlier or slipped through contact‑tracing could bring the disease to U. S. soil. “Doctors and nurses are key to spotting cases, ” said a senior researcher at Johns Hopkins. “They need to check travel history and look for the right symptoms. ”The Centers for Disease Control released an advisory stating that widespread transmission in the United States is “extremely unlikely” right now. Yet clinicians should stay alert for imported cases, and experts predict that more people may be affected in the coming weeks. The overall danger to the public remains low because hantavirus does not spread as easily between people as COVID‑19, which can jump from person to person with casual contact and short incubation times. Passengers still aboard the ship will fly on a medical repatriation flight to Offutt Air Force Base in Omaha, Nebraska. From there they will be sent to the University of Nebraska’s National Quarantine Center for monitoring and assessment over 42 days. Some may be allowed to return home after observation. The World Health Organization confirmed that the strain involved is Andes virus, the only hantavirus known to transmit from person to person. This detail underscores why careful surveillance is essential, even though the overall risk remains low.