This week, global health officials are continuing to closely watch a rare outbreak of the Andes strain of hantavirus linked to a cruise ship.
The outbreak has now spread across multiple countries, with more than 10 cases reported, including several deaths and multiple patients in critical condition.
What has public health experts paying particular attention is that the Andes strain is the only known hantavirus capable of human-to-human transmission.
The World Health Organization continues to stress that this is not “another COVID” and says the risk to the general public remains low. but the outbreak is raising important questions about how this virus spread on a cruise ship, whether asymptomatic people can transmit it and what scientists still don’t know about a virus most Americans have only heard about in connection with rodent exposure in the western part of the country.
Dr. David Pate, the former CEO of St. Luke's Health System and the author of the book "Preparing for the Next Global Outbreak," joined Idaho Matters to talk more about the issue.
