A rare disease called Hanta virus is back in the news after a deadly cluster of cases was discovered on a cruise ship in the Atlantic earlier this month.

So far, there have been at least 11 confirmed or suspected cases connected to the cruise, including three deaths. You may recall

handivirus making headlines back in February 2025 after being linked to the death of actor Gene

Hackman's wife, Betsy Arakawa, who got the disease after coming into contact with rotent

droppings in their home in New Mexico. Tell the officials say the current outbreak involves the Andes strain,

a type of hand virus that can spread from human to human in close contact,

leading some people to worry could we be on the cusp of another global pandemic.

But what do scientists say?

Hello and welcome. global pandemic. But what do scientists say?

Hello and welcome to USA Today's The Excert. I'm Dana Taylor. Today is Wednesday, May 20th,

2026. Here to explain more about this current outbreak and to dispel some of the myths is Dr. Peter Hotez, Dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine

and Professor of Pediatrics and Molecular Barology and Microbiology at Baylor College of Medicine.

Dr. Hotes, it's good to speak with you again.

Great to talk to you, Dana.

As I mentioned, there's a lot of public concern about this hand-to-virus outbreak.

For people who are still unfamiliar with the disease, what is it, what kind of illness can it cause, and what are the fatality rates?

Yeah, this is a virus that's a natural virus of rodents, of certain species of mice and rats, not typically household rodents, but more

those that are out in the wild.

So, for instance, there's a type of what called New World Hauntavirus, Western Hemisphere

Antivirus that's found in the American Southwest in places like New Mexico and Arizona,

which was the one that affected Gene Hackman's wife.

That particular virus is called Cineombie.

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