According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, hantaviruses are a family of viruses that humans can contract following contact with rodents, which frequently carry the virus, and typically by breathing in particles from as their dried saliva, urine, and droppings, like when sweeping a shed where rodents have been living.
Hantavirus infections are typically rare, with an estimated 200,000 to 300,000 cases per year globally, but they can result in severe illness and death. Hantaviruses found in the Americas, also known as New World hantaviruses, can cause hantavirus pulmonary syndrome (HPS) which presents with common symptoms like fever, fatigue and muscle aches before progressing to more severe effects such as shortness of breath and fluid in the lungs. HPS has a fatality rate of 12 to 45 percent depending on the strain.
For variants more common in Europe and Asia, also known as Old World hantaviruses, patients can develop hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome (HFRS) which can cause kidney failure, and has a fatality rate of 1–15 percent.
The strain of hantavirus linked to the cruise ship appears to be what’s known as the Andes strain which, per the CDC, is common in South America and has been linked to human-to-human transmission. However, transmitting the hantavirus person-to-person is rare and typically requires close contact in an enclosed space.
Hantavirus also has a long incubation period, with symptoms typically appearing a few weeks after infection, but sometimes as long as eight weeks after.
There is currently no cure nor widely available vaccine for hantavirus, surviving severe illness caused by the infection requires prompt medical intervention and ICU treatment.
For even more information about hantavirus, infectious disease expert and doctor Céline Gounder has written an excellent explainer here.
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