The World Health Organization confirmed Wednesday that the deadly virus sweeping through a cruise ship in the Atlantic can be transmitted person to person. Health authorities in South Africa and Switzerland said three people had died and several others had contracted the Andes virus, a species of hantavirus. Experts believe the strain is spread between humans who have had very close contact with one another, such as sharing a bed or food. The cruise ship at the center of the deadly outbreak is stuck off the coast of Cape Verde, with more than one hundred passengers still on board. The ship left Argentina on April 1 and was scheduled to stop in Antarctica and the Falkland Islands. The virus is a rare, rodent-born illness that usually spreads by inhaling contaminated residue of rodent droppings, and the Argentine government believes that the Dutch couple that originally contracted the virus did so when bird-watching at a garbage dump before boarding the ship. The WHO has maintained that the risk of the virus spreading remains low, with the organization telling the AP: “This is not the next COVID.”
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