WHO briefs on hantavirus outbreak aboard cruise ship, Spain to allow docking in Canary Islands
WHO held a press conference Thursday to update on a suspected hantavirus outbreak on the cruise ship MV Hondius.
The vessel is expected to dock in Tenerife, Canary Islands, after Spain agreed to the request of WHO director‑general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
Health officials note this is the first suspected person‑to‑person transmission of hantavirus on a cruise vessel, and the investigation will take weeks because of the virus’s long incubation period.
Authorities from the United States and Argentina, both recently disengaged from WHO, are cooperating with the response, while scientists work to determine whether rodents on board contributed to the cases.
This writeup was produced by pharmadog from original reporting by STAT.
Original headline: “Key takeaways from WHO briefing on hantavirus cruise ship outbreak”
read at STAT ↗
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