#hantavirus

#hantavirus

The basic structure of cruise travel still creates the same challenge: many people sharing the same meals, the same air, the same water systems and the same common spaces. That is why outbreaks keep returning, and why cruise ships remain a useful reminder that public health is shaped as much by design as by germs.

The World Health Organization has said it believes there may have been human-to-human transmission of hantavirus on the Dutch cruise ship where three passengers have died. The virus is usually spread from rodents, but the WHO said in this instance it could have been spread among 'really close contacts' onboard the MV Hondius vessel.

Cape Verde health authorities stated they would not authorize the docking of the cruise ship to protect national public health, following the deaths of three passengers onboard.

The makings of a midnight mouse snack were left in the middle of the living room floor of our vacation rental in Lake Tahoe: shredded paper and bits of granola, taken from an open backpack. The evidence was enough to lead some of my family to believe we weren't the only ones in the house. I'd seen similar rodent leftovers before, and my mind was made up.