{"id":9315,"date":"2026-05-13T12:25:17","date_gmt":"2026-05-13T12:25:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.healthoptibody.com\/?p=9315"},"modified":"2026-05-13T12:25:17","modified_gmt":"2026-05-13T12:25:17","slug":"the-super-spreader-theory-that-scientists-say-explains-why-hantavirus-ravaged-cruise-ship-as-who-tells-countries-to-prepare-for-more-cases","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.healthoptibody.com\/?p=9315","title":{"rendered":"The ‘super-spreader’ theory that scientists say explains why hantavirus ravaged cruise ship – as WHO tells countries to prepare for more cases"},"content":{"rendered":"

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By ZOE HARDY, HEALTH REPORTER<\/a> <\/p>\n

Published:<\/span>

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Infectious disease experts have warned there will be more hantavirus cases, with the most recent outbreak likely triggered by a ‘super-spreader’.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The head of the World Health Organisation<\/a> (WHO) similarly told countries to prepare for more cases in the coming weeks.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Three passengers – a Dutch<\/a> couple and a German woman – died after travelling on the doomed MV Hondius, when the first victim fell ill.\u00a0<\/p>\n

It is believed that he may have been infected at a landfill site on the outskirts of Ushuaia, a birdwatching spot popular with tourists – and overrun with scavenging rodents.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Now leading virologists say it’s plausible that Leo Schilperoord, who has been dubbed patient X, was a super-spreader.<\/p>\n

If accurate, he is the reason why the deadly disease is spreading between humans at unprecedented rates.\u00a0<\/p>\n

‘Hantavirus isn’t new,’ Professor Paul Hunter, an epidemiologist at the University of East Anglia said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

‘But it is the first time an outbreak has occurred on a cruise ship – an environment which is really good at spreading infections, whether that’s Covid, influenza or norovirus.’<\/p>\n

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There will be more rat-virus cases, WHO chief and leading disease experts warns\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Experts believe it is unlikely that a mutation in the virus is behind the rapid spread of infection between humans – making it no different from other cases of the Andes strain, which is rife in parts of Argentina.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But what makes this particular outbreak different is that it may have been picked up by a super-spreader four days before boarding the ship, creating the perfect storm.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Whilst experts do not fully understand what makes someone a super-spreader, it is believed that a small group of people can infect far more people than average.\u00a0<\/p>\n

There are a number of theories, but no definitive answer. Prof Hunter speculates it could be to do with the immune system of the super-spreader – which may not be good at suppressing the virus, or alternatively sheds more of it.<\/p>\n

But one thing seems fairly certain – especially since Covid – it’s pretty much impossible to know who will be a super-spreader.\u00a0<\/p>\n

And according to Prof Hunter, there’s ‘convincing’ research that shows super-spreaders of hantavirus do exist.\u00a0<\/p>\n

‘It is plausible then that what we’re seeing is that the [birdwatching] couple picked up the virus at a landfill site.<\/p>\n