BALTIMORE, Md. — The Maryland Department of Health is monitoring two Maryland residents for possible hantavirus exposure, according to a May 11 release. The residents were not on the M/V Hondius cruise ship that reported the hantavirus outbreak earlier this month, but were on a flight that briefly included a cruise ship passenger.
The Maryland Department of Health did not include any additional information about the individuals to protect their privacy and said the risk of exposure remains “very low.” There have been no confirmed cases of hantavirus in Maryland since 2019.
Hantaviruses are a family of viruses carried by rodents, and cases are known to occur in the United States. Although most diseases stemming from hantavirus are not known to spread between people, the disease associated with M/V Hondius passengers is the Andes virus found in South America. It is the only known hantavirus capable of person-to-person transmission, though such transmission is rare and generally requires close, prolonged contact with an infected individual or their bodily fluids. The incubation period ranges from four to 42 days, and asymptomatic persons are not considered infectious…