The MV Hondius cruise ship, where a hantavirus outbreak began that killed three passengers and infected at least five others, left Cape Verde on May 6. It is due to arrive in Tenerife, in the Spanish Canary Islands, on May 9. From there, the evacuation of passengers, including some Canadians, is expected to begin on May 11.

The strain that caused the outbreak is the Andes virus, the only one in the hantavirus group that is transmissible between humans, notably through saliva droplets and urine.

It is unlikely that the first person infected with this hantavirus contracted it on board the MV Hondius or at a port of call. The incubation period suggests that infection occurred before the ship’s departure from Ushuaia, in southern Argentina, in early April. Several cruise passengers had travelled to Argentina and Chile, where the virus is endemic.

The risk posed by this hantavirus is “low” for “the rest of the world,” the World Health Organization (WHO) stated, which dismisses any similarity with the COVID-19 pandemic.

But what do we know about this hantavirus? We spoke to Professor Benoît Barbeau from the Department of Biological Sciences at the Université du Québec à Montréal. He is an expert in virology whose research focuses on human retroviruses and coronaviruses.

The Conversation Canada: What exactly is the Andean hantavirus?

Dr Benoît Barbeau: It belongs to........

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