Hantavirus headlines news articles. Will this be a COVID 2.0?

The News

On May 2, the WHO flagged a hantavirus outbreak after passengers caught the virus aboard a cruise ship, the MV Hondius, sailing from Argentina to Cabo Verde. During the trip, a 70-year-old Dutch man developed respiratory symptoms on the 3rd of April this year, and shortly died soon after on April 11. The situation escalated on the 24th, after the man’s body was removed from the ship following a stop in Saint Helena, where his wife got off the ship experiencing similar symptoms, only to die shortly after. Following the events, several other passengers and crew members began experiencing respiratory symptoms. By May 6, the WHO officially confirmed the Andes variant of the Hantavirus to be responsible for the outbreak on board the ship, with that specific variant being known to be contagious after prolonged contact. Immediately, Moderna and other vaccine manufacturers found headlines, as they had been working on a hantavirus vaccine with Korea University since 2023.