"Just to catch people up, this outbreak was first noticed about a week ago on a ship called the MV Hondius, which was a cruise ship departing from South America, Argentina. And the people that were sickened and unfortunately passed away, two of those individuals were a married couple who had been travelingit was a Dutch couplewe think were infected in Argentina and then boarded the ship. And then subsequently, multiple other people have been infected. As of May 7 the number of people on this cruise ship who had been infected with hantavirus was eight people. So that probably could still change."
"But you might not have heard of hantavirus before, but it is a virus family that people have been sickened with before, and it's generally spread by rodents, like rats or mice. And this commonly happens in places where people are exposed to the feces of these animals. And it causes pretty severe disease. It can cause anything from respiratory distress and fluid in the lungs to some forms of it can be more of, like, a hemorrhagic fever, kind of like Ebola."
An outbreak of hantavirus was identified about a week earlier on the MV Hondius, a cruise ship departing from Argentina. Two of the sickened individuals were a married Dutch couple believed to have been infected in Argentina before boarding. Additional passengers were later infected, bringing the total to eight people as of May 7, with the number potentially changing. Hantavirus is a family of viruses typically spread by rodents such as rats or mice. Infection occurs when people are exposed to rodent feces. The disease can be severe, ranging from respiratory distress and fluid in the lungs to forms resembling hemorrhagic fever, similar to Ebola.
Read at www.scientificamerican.com
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]