What did we learn from the hantavirus cruise ship scare?

As the hantavirus scare comes to an end with the last cruise ship passengers set to leave quarantine, what did the world learn from this sudden outbreak of a previously little-known virus? The deaths of three people who had been onboard the MV Hondius sparked a global health alert in early May, prompting fears the ship’s many international passengers could spread the rodent-borne disease across the world. Many nations responded by putting the passengers and contact cases in quarantine or isolation for the disease’s six-week incubation period. There were no further deaths during the outbreak — and all 12 confirmed hantavirus cases were passengers on the ship. With the last remaining passengers soon to leave quarantine, AFP answers key questions about an episode that again highlighted the risk viruses in animals pose to humans. Is it over? Almost all the passengers of the Dutch-flagged ship quarantined in the Netherlands have been allowed to return home, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said on Thursday. In France, four people quarantined in a hospital are set to be released on Sunday. A fifth passenger who became seriously ill will stay in intensive care; however, her condition has improved, according to French health authorities. In other countries, people are also set to leave quarantine — in Australia, six passengers are scheduled to be set free on Tuesday. There have been no new cases reported in the outbreak for more than three weeks. Given the incubation period for the virus has passed, “the episode can likely be considered over,” Nicole Tischler, president of the International Society of Hantaviruses, told AFP. What did we learn? The 12 confirmed cases — and another considered likely — pale in comparison to the tens of thousands of hantavirus infections recorded worldwide every year. However, most of those cases involve humans getting infected while in close contact with a rodent. The concerning factor about the cruise ship outbreak was that the virus was t