Preparing for Andes virus outbreaks to prevent transmission in health care settings

Andes virus, the type of hantavirus responsible for the outbreak on the MV Hondius cruise ship earlier this year, has a fatality rate of up to 36%.

Precautions such as isolation of infected individuals and use of personal protective equipment by health care personnel can prevent transmission if implemented at the earliest stages of infection.

But because human-to-human transmission of Andes virus was detected for the first time only in 1996, and because outbreaks occur infrequently, clinicians worldwide were unfamiliar with Andes virus clinical presentation, epidemiological risk factors and infection prevention strategies when the cruise ship outbreak occurred. ...