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In April 2026, a hantavirus pulmonary syndrome (HPS) outbreak caused by Andes virus (ANDV) occurred on a cruise ship. ANDV genome sequences were obtained for 10 of the 13 identified cases during a cross-country investigation established to share initial raw data for joint analysis with reciprocal quality control. The genomic data, symptom onsets, and plausible contact patterns strongly support a tightly linked outbreak cluster compatible with a single or very few zoonotic spillover events prior to embarkment followed by human-to-human transmission onboard. The outbreak represents the international displacement of a virus already known to be capable, under specific conditions, to transmit among humans, and does not suggest emergence of a unusual viral strain.
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Koopmans et al. (2026) studied this question.
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