On April 1st MV Hondius, a cruise ship carrying around 150 passengers and crew, set sail from Argentina towards the island nation of Cape Verde. By early May an outbreak of hantavirus was reported on board, sending international health authorities scrambling to contain further spread and treat those taken ill.

4月1日，载有约150名乘客和船员的“MV洪迪斯”号邮轮从阿根廷启航，驶向岛国佛得角。 到5月初，船上报告爆发汉坦病毒疫情，国际卫生机构紧急行动，力求遏制病毒进一步传播并救治患病人员。

As of May 6th three cases among those on board had been confirmed and five more were suspected. Of those eight people, three have died. Although information about the outbreak is still patchy, the World Health Organisation (WHO) and other health bodies say the risk of hantavirus infections globally remains low.

截至5月6日，船上已确诊3例病例，另有5例疑似病例。 在这8人中，已有3人死亡。 尽管有关此次疫情的信息仍不完整，但世界卫生组织（WHO）和其他卫生机构表示，全球范围内汉坦病毒感染的风险仍然较低。

Human infections with hantavirus are rare. Such cases are usually caused by the inhalation of airborne particles from the droppings or urine of rodents such as mice and rats, in which the virus is endemic. Further spread from infected humans to others is rarer still, though not unheard of. Very close contact—such as bed-sharing, sex and interactions between health-care workers and patients—has historically been a prerequisite. Although no human-to-human transmission on MV Hondius has yet been confirmed, the cramped cabins and common areas of a cruise ship are an ideal environment for it to occur. The fact that the wife of the first passenger who died was also infected is a worrying sign.

人类感染汉坦病毒的情况较为罕见。 此类病例通常是由于吸入含有老鼠等啮齿动物排泄物（尿液或粪便）的空气颗粒而感染，这些啮齿动物是该病毒的宿主。 而感染者进一步将病毒传播给他人的情况则更为罕见，不过也并非闻所未闻。 历史上，非常密切的接触（如同床共枕、性行为以及医护人员与患者之间的互动）是病毒人际传播的先决条件。 尽管“MV洪迪斯”号邮轮上尚未确认有人际传播病例，但邮轮上狭小的客舱和公共区域是病毒传播的理想环境。 首名死亡乘客的妻子也感染了病毒，这一情况令人担忧。

There are many strains of hantavirus, each harboured by different animal species. At least three of the infected individuals from MV Hondius have been diagnosed with the Andes strain, which is found in rodents in Argentina and is known to spread between people. It starts with flu-like symptoms but can progress to severe breathing problems that require intensive hospital care. The mortality rate for those infected can be as high as 50%.

汉坦病毒有多种毒株，每种毒株由不同的动物物种携带。 “MV洪迪斯”号邮轮上至少有3名感染者被诊断出感染了安第斯毒株，这种毒株存在于阿根廷的啮齿动物中，且已知可在人与人之间传播。 该病毒起初表现为流感样症状，但可能发展为严重的呼吸问题，需要重症监护治疗。 感染者的死亡率可高达50%。

For now, the WHO is working with officials in Argentina and on-board the ship to reconstruct the movements and contacts of infected passengers in the eight weeks before they developed symptoms, the longest known incubation period for the virus. Samples retrieved from patients are also being sequenced to help determine where the infection began and how it spread.

目前，世卫组织正与阿根廷官员和船上工作人员合作，重建感染乘客在出现症状前八周（已知该病毒最长潜伏期）内的活动轨迹和接触情况。 同时，从患者身上采集的样本也在进行测序，以帮助确定感染源头和传播途径。

Such insights will help authorities better understand the risk to the remaining passengers. With the exception of those who have fallen ill, who were taken off the ship at Cape Verde and airlifted to European hospitals, nobody has been allowed to disembark since May 3rd. (One infected passenger disembarked before falling ill and took himself to a hospital in Zurich.)

这些发现将有助于当局更好地了解剩余乘客面临的风险。 除患病人员外，自5月3日起，船上无人被允许下船。患病人员已在佛得角下船，并被空运至欧洲的医院接受治疗。 （有一名感染乘客在下船后尚未发病时自行前往苏黎世的一家医院就医。）

In the meantime, the WHO has brokered a plan for those on board to leave the ship at the Canary Islands, a territory of Spain, when the ship arrives there around May 10th. The country's health minister said that Spanish passengers would be quarantined at a military hospital, whereas other nationals will be repatriated if they are asymptomatic. The details of these plans were still being hashed out as the economist went to press. But if they are carried out responsibly, the chances of a global health disaster are, thankfully, low.

与此同时，世卫组织促成了一项计划，即当邮轮于5月10日左右抵达西班牙领土加那利群岛时，船上人员可下船。 西班牙卫生部长表示，西班牙乘客将被隔离在一家军事医院，而其他国家人员若没有症状则将被遣返回国。 在经济学人付印之时，这些计划的具体细节仍在商讨敲定之中。 不过，如果能够负责任地执行这些计划，那么发生全球性卫生灾难的可能性，幸而还是很低的。